Current Status: Hopeless
by imogensrocket
Summary: Maya Matlin is in the pursuit of winning Campbell Saunders' heart; however it's not going to be easy. Between the puck bunnies, Imogen Moreno singing about her epic love for Puppy Soup, the universe's vendetta against her, and a deranged older sister, life has never seemed so hopeless. But despite everything against it, she reckons everything has to turn her way... eventually.
1. Chapter One: Gravity

**Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.**

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**Author's Note: **So I've been dying to do a Camaya story since before we ever saw the adorable puppy face that is Cam Saunders but never knew where to begin! But after a lot of begging and pleading, the plot bunny of this story stopped hoping around my brain long enough to give you another awkward story! *bows gracefully for the adoring fans I don't have*. So this story is obviously AU, and I'm a firm believer that Cam should be staying with either the Matlins' or the Milligans', not with that family whose name I can't remember! So without further ado I give you Maya's agony, or in other words, Current Status: Hopeless.

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**Chapter One: Gravity**

I glanced in the mirror and glared at my frizzy hair.

"Okay, curls, if that's what you have the audacity to call yourself, you are going to be straight and you are going to like it!" I held up the flatiron dramatically to the first strand of frizzy, dirty blonde hair as Katie came into my room.

"Mom says to hurry up," she said sitting down on my bed, getting her dirty sneakers on my bedspread.

I glared at her. "I'll be down in a minute." I said to her reflection, running the iron down the strand.

I think it got frizzier.

"So are you excited to meet your _boyfriend_?" Katie asked in s singsong voice.

She is so annoying.

"He is _not _my boyfriend, _Katherine_." I said, pulling the full name card. Yeah, I'm pretty bad ass.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, Maya, we all know you've been obsessed with him for weeks."

"Just because I decided to talk to him on FaceRange after he added _me _does not make me obsessed," I said, snapping the iron in her direction.

"Sure it doesn't," Katie said, getting up from my bed, wiping invisible specks of dust from her pants.

"It doesn't. Katie, and if you keep saying I'm obsessed with him he'll hear and actually believe that." I said dryly, turning my head back to the mirror, giving my reflection a withering stare.

Katie laughed at that. "The boy is probably so arrogant he probably thinks you're already obsessed with him." She said, going to leave my room and grabbing the door jam. "Come downstairs before Mom loses it, your hair will always be a frizzy disaster and today shouldn't be any different."

"Get out!" I snapped at her, tossing my lion beanie baby at her face, it missed of course.

I lack hand-eye coordination. Actually I lack coordination in general.

"Maya and Hockey Boy sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G –" she sang as she made her way down the steps.

"Stupid jerk," I muttered, turning my attention back to my now super frizzed out hair. _Perfect. _"Please try and look decent!" I begged my hair, groveling to the floor. "I'll buy the super expensive shampoo and conditioner if you just stop frizzing."

Of course my hair responded by getting bigger. It's a monster I'm telling you.

"You're lucky I don't shave you and wear wigs." I snarled at my hair, getting up from my knees.

My hair, if it had eyeballs, would have been rolling them. And if it had a mouth, probably would have snapped its chewing gum too.

I should have done what Katie did when she completely lost her mind, and then my hair would think twice before being ugly on me!

But sadly, and surprisingly, I still have my sanity and besides, my parents would disown me if I came home with straight black hair, leather pants, and hot pink stilettos.

Of course if I did do that I would have done it completely different then how Katie did it.

She was in the bathroom and got dye everywhere and Mom nearly had a mental breakdown when she thought her countertop would be forever stained with the black hair dye.

Mom made Katie go to the salon to fix the haircut she'd given herself. It was pretty bad, there were random chops everywhere and Katie threw a fit about going out in to the world where she might see Drew and Bianca together.

Who ever knew my perfect sister who scoffed at me for moping about Zig taking Tori back and telling me to "get over myself" would take a break up with the likes of Drew Torres so badly.

Sure, Drew's cute, but he is not the sharpest knife in the draw. His IQ has to be in the negatives!

"MAYA!" My mother hollered up to me. "COME ON, THE SAUNDERS JUST PULLED INTO THE DRIVEWAY, GET DOWN HERE!"

I sighed and grabbed a hairband from my dresser and gave another look to the mirror.

"You win this round, hair, but prepare yourself for our next encounter."

And I left my hair to roll its invisible eyes and snap its inexistent gum as I left my room.

"Should we play the march of the bride?" Katie asked from her spot on the couch as I made my way to the stairs.

I sent her a glare from the balcony that overlooked the living room.

"You're not funny at all." I told her, crossing my arms.

"Never mind this," my mother said, waving her arms at the two of us as the doorbell rang.

My father answered the door greeting the Saunders as I was about to head down the stairs.

"Come in, it's so good to meet you." My father said, shaking the Saunders' hands and opening the door wider so they could come inside, and that's when I saw him.

His photos were nice, but they were no justice to the boy standing at the bottom of the stairs.

He looked towards me and gave a small, shy wave as I was about to make my first step down the stairs.

You know how in movies when the person sees their love interest and the camera zooms up close and a cheesy song plays that describes their epic romance perfectly and fireworks explode?

Well that's what happened to me.

The moment he looked at me I swear Cupid's stupid arrow of love flew into my bum and the camera of my corneas zoomed up close to Cam Saunders. I could practically hear _I want you to want me _(_Letters to Cleo _version, not _The Cheap Trick _one) playing, and there were even a few fireworks - okay the fireworks are an exaggeration. But I swear in that moment our eyes met I swooned.

And in my epic swoon of love I missed the step of the stair and tumbled down the staircase and fell on top of him.

Yeah. Ha. Ha. I fell for him.

You're so original.

He groaned as he fell hard, his back to the floor as I straddled his stomach, our faces mere inches apart.

It would have been nice if we weren't in a room with our parents (and Katie), and if I hadn't flown past eleven stairs into his arms.

I could hear Katie laughing away on the sofa, making a show of slapping the leather and gasping for air.

"Oh my God, Cam, are you okay?" Mrs. Saunders asked her son frantically as my dad lifted me off of him, trying with all his might not to laugh at the current situation.

At least my Dad doesn't laugh at my pain!

"Oh, Maya," my mother said, shaking her head, trying to hide the fact that she was about to laugh.

"I am so sorry! Are you hurt?" I practically shouted at him, not sure if he wanted me near him after that whole episode.

"I'm fine," he said, slapping his mother's hands away from him. "Mom, mom, I said I was fine!"

My dad started to laugh, and then Mr. Saunders started to laugh, and then my mother. The only ones who weren't laughing about this situation was me, Cam, and Mrs. Saunders, who was glaring at me with rage. I could practically feel the hate she held from me in that glare.

_Perfect._

"Uh, so welcome to Casa Matlin," I said to him feebly, trying to break the thick tension.

"Yeah, it certainly was a welcome." He said, rubbing his back awkwardly.

"I'll say," Mrs. Saunders mumbled angrily. "Are you sure you're okay, Cammy?"

"Mother. I. Am. Fine." Cam said through gritted teeth.

"So why don't we head to the dining room and get to know one another," my mother said, as she lead the way.

"Come on dear, Cam's fine, he took it like a man!" Mr. Saunders, who was a large, beefy man with a huge mustache, said as he slapped Cam hard on the back.

Cam winced as he lurched forward.

Probably not the best thing to do to a person who just had someone knock them to the ground.

With one last glare, Mr. and Mrs. Saunders followed my parents to the dining room, leaving us alone with Katie.

"So, Cam," Katie said, getting up from the sofa, "excited to be the big sports star?"

"Katie, keep the claws inside your paws." I said, giving her a narrow-eyed glance.

"Maya, I'm just making conversation." Katie said, giving me a to-sweet-to-be-true smile.

"An awkward conversation," I mumbled, crossing my arms.

Cam coughed, trying to get our attention. We're bad hostesses, what can I say?

"Um, where's your bathroom?"

"Here I'll take you," I said, grabbing his hand.

I led him up the stairs, trying to put as much distance between us and Katie as humanly possible.

"Your room is right there, by the way." I said nodding to the room across the hall from mine.

He looked in and put the bag he had been holding on the bed.

"Sorry that it's a bit…" I said, trying to find the right word that would kindly explain the old lady bedspread, lace curtains, and floral wall paper. "Girly."

"It's…fine." He said, looking around, trying to hide the look of horror of the lacey curtains.

"At least you can hang posters," I said with a smile.

"Yeah, posters." He said.

"Well the bathroom is down the hall, Katie's room is next door, and my room is across the hall." I said, trying desperately to make conversation.

"Okay," he said, and went to go to the bathroom. "Thanks."

"You're welcome, uh, see you downstairs."

He nodded at me and left the room.

It's not too soon to plan our wedding yet, right?

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**Author's Note: **Just to let everyone know I don't think Olivia Scriven's hair is a frizzy mess, in fact I think it's quite beautiful. Maya having frizzy hair just being used for comedy, please don't crucify me! So anyways, Maya, Maya, Maya, how can we ever solve a problem like her? Or really, how can we solve her problems? Oh well, from this point we know it can only get more awkward for poor Camaya. especially if Katie stays around.

Please review. Please, with sprinkles and cherries on top. I'll even give you a cutout of Munro as an added bonus for your review.


	2. Chapter Two: Apples

**Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.**

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**Chapter Two: Apples**

"Why does she have to sleep with me in my room?" Katie whined to my mother as the three of us were washing the dishes.

Actually, my mother and I were washing the dishes as Katie stood in front of the stove and watched us with a scowl across her face as she entered the beginning stages of another one of her meltdowns.

"_Katie_," my mother warned, sending my sister a pointed look. "Maya _or _Cam _or _his parents cannot sleep in the basement or on the couch. Maya will only be sharing the room with you for one night, you'll live."

Katie's lower lip began to tremble and her face was slowly becoming a very scary shade of fuchsia as she stared at our mother in absolute horror.

"I won't live," she said, stomping her foot against the linoleum, tears pouring from her eyes. I really hope the Saunders' couldn't hear this or I might just die from second-hand embarrassment and shame. "This isn't fair!"

I sighed, shaking my head as I handed my mother another dish for her to dry. These tantrums had become so frequent and a part of our normal routine since Katie had come back from rehab to find out Drew was in love with Bianca and dumped her.

It hadn't been pretty.

The only good thing that had come from my sister slowly losing her sanity – and student council position – was that my parents had stopped trying to make me become her. Sure my parents wanted me to play sports, get good grades, and maybe even achieve some student government position, but the whole "Maya why can't you be more like Katie, she blah, blah, blah, blah" had stopped.

"Katherine Elizabeth," my mother snapped, swiveling her chair away from the sink and made her way over to Katie who was still stomping and crying. "Stop it right now! We have guests over and you and your sister are going to share a room and that is final!"

Katie seemed to shrink under my mother's menacing glare. Even though my mother had been in a wheelchair she always seemed to tower over people when she scolded them. It was quite impressive, and completely terrifying that she could intimidate a person so much while sitting down.

"B-but –" Katie sputtered, looking shell shocked.

"It's final, Katie." My mother said, heading back over beside me.

"But, Mom," Katie moaned, clutching onto the granite as if it were a life raft, "Maya snores!"

"What?" I snapped in a shrilly voice, spinning around to face her, dropping the cup I had been scrubbing in the process, sloshing soapy water everywhere, including my clothes. "_I _snore, are you kidding me? You of all people should not complain about other peoples' snoring, Katherine Elizabeth Matlin. You sound like a darn freight train coming at full speed."

Katie's eyes narrowed. "Oh yeah, well you, Maya Lydia Matlin, moan and groan in your sleep!"

"I don't moan!" I hissed, my face flushing to a deep scarlet. "And you kick!"

"No, I kick you to stop your moans," Katie said.

"I do _not_ moan!" I practically screamed, crossing my arms over my chest and shoving my nose into the air.

"Sure you do. All night long you hear "_ooh, ooh, ooh_!" Katie mocked, making her eyes roll to the back of her head.

"That's disgusting! I don't do things like that in my sleep, you liar!" I exclaimed, clenching my fists so hard that I could feel my nails threatening to break the skin of my palms.

"_Oh, Cam, I love you so much. Oh!_" Katie continued to mock.

"Girls –" My mother warned her voice dangerously low.

"Shut up!" I screamed at her, throwing the first thing I grabbed off the counter in her direction.

Katie ducked, and the apple I had grabbed from the fruit dish flew over the island two feet from where Katie was crouched.

At that moment Cam had come into the kitchen unaware of the present danger of flying fruit.

"Ow!" Cam moaned, stumbling back a bit, clutching the side of his face from where the apple had hit right under his left eye, the apple rolling away.

"Cam, are you okay?" My mother said, rolling over to him.

Katie snorted. "Nice going, Maya."

I couldn't say anything. I just stood in front of the sink, arms spread apart and eyes wide as saucers and mouth wide open.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Cam said, removing his hand to show a nice purple bruise blooming on his cheek.

"I-I-" I sputtered from my spot as he looked at me, his eyes watering from the pain my apple had caused him.

Katie began to snicker. "I was wrong, Maya, you have no hope at hand eye coordination."

"Oh go back to your temper tantrum!" I snapped at her, and ran past Cam in complete embarrassment.

It was bad enough I hit him in the face with an apple, but what if he had heard all that stuff Katie had said.

"Maya, what's wrong?" My dad called to me, as I ran past him to head up the stairs, try to hide my face in shame and embarrassment.

"I'm going to find a rock to crawl under for the rest of my life!" I wailed, running up the stairs to my bedroom.

"Teenage girls," my dad said with a laugh. "They certainly are a handful."

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I lay curled up on my bed, crying.

I'm turning into Katie.

I'm so embarrassed I think I might die. The mattress is going to suck me in and I'm going to be forced to watch my humiliation for the rest of my life.

Maybe I should wear a bag over my face for the rest of my life if my mattress doesn't suck me whole. Tristan, Zig, and Tori would still be my friends. They probably wouldn't have anything to do with me in public and they'd probably delete me off FaceRange, but I'm sure they'd still text me and instant message me every now and again.

As I began to contemplate either wearing a bag or a ski mask for all eternity someone began to knock on my door.

"Go away, Dad!" I said, lifting my head up.

"Actually," a much softer, and not at all my dad's gruff voice came from the other side of the door, "its Cam."

Oh, Fates, why? Do you hate me so much that you'd make me face him so soon?

"Uh, just as second." I said, hoping up from my bed and hurrying to my mirror. My face looked blotchy and my eyes were a bit wild from all the crying. If this boy isn't already scared of my existence now, seeing me like this will have him running for the hills.

But we're soul mates so if he did that he'd be a pretty bad other half.

I sighed, wiping my face on a shirt that was hanging on the side of my dresser, attempting to look presentable.

"Uh, Maya," Cam called to me timidly.

I threw open the door and tried to be calm and not look at his bruise. "Uh, hi," I said, stuttering.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay." He said, walking past me to head into my room.

"Oh, well I'm hunky dory, right as rain, and all that jazz." I said, throwing him what I hoped to be a believable, and not at all frightening, Sheldon Cooper-like smile.

"Uh, yeah," he said, looking around my room as if my books and stuffed animals would give him what to say next.

"I'm sorry about your eye and falling on top of you." I said, not looking at him.

"It's okay, I've had worse."

"Have other girls done worse than land on you after falling down a flight of stairs, or threw an apple that hit you in the face?" I asked, hoping that there had been others who'd done sill stuff like this to him.

"No, but hockey does batter you up a bit."

"Oh, yeah," I said.

We stood in my room awkwardly, neither of us knowing what to say.

"So…" I said, my eyes landing on my book bag. "Are you excited for school?"

He shrugged. "I guess."

"Well at least tomorrow we don't have to go." I said, trying to think of another topic.

"Yeah," he said.

"So do you want to hang out tomorrow? I'm going to my friend's house to watch movies, his brother's on the hockey team."

"Oh, I would, but I have practice for most of the day."

"Oh, right." I said, my face falling to the floor.

"But we could hang out after. I mean, if you'd want too."

"Sure," I said, a bit too excitedly, making him recoil a bit. "I mean, uh, sure, that sounds like fun."

Suddenly I could hear Katie humming K-I-S-S-I-N-G from my doorway and I looked over to see her standing there with smirk. "Aw, that's cute, Cam, asking her out on a date."

Cam's face drained of color and he became very interested in my carpet.

I glared at Katie. One of these days I'm going to kill her, and I won't be sorry when she's gone.

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**Author's Note: **Oh, Katie, you and your shenanigans. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, they made me smile! And to everyone favorited, and followed this story, thank you as well. I hope this chapter didn't disappoint any one of you at all.


	3. Chapter Three: Latte

**Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.**

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**Author's Note: **Sorry it took me forever to get this chapter up, school became hectic and then I was stuck for a bit and I like the end result of this chapter and I hope everyone who waited likes it too.

Thank you so much to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, and favorited this story, it means so much to me. All the reviews you left me were so sweet, and they made me smile and some even made me giggle. I'm happy my story cheered you up, **BGuate224**. I'm glad that Maya's shenanigans made you smile and I hope this chapter isn't a let-down!

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**Chapter Three: Latte**

"You fell on him?" Tristan asked in complete horror as I retold the events from the night before.

"Yes," I said, my face bright red. "And I also threw an apple at his face that gave him a black eye." I fell back onto Tristan's couch and covered my face with a pillow as Zig laughed.

"Zig," Tori snapped, and I could hear her hit his arm. "Why did you throw an apple at him?"

I put the pillow into my lap looking at the ceiling. "It was aiming for Katie and it missed."

Tristan snorted. "The poor guy must be terrified of you."

"I'd have been begging my parents to take me home." Zig said.

"Will you two dunderheads shut it?" Tori snapped. "Maybe he likes spontaneous girls?"

It was my turn to snort. "I passed spontaneous the moment I feel down the stairs. The only type of girl I am to him is unlucky."

Tristan patted my knee. "At least the puck bunnies will leave you alone."

"The what?" I asked stupidly.

"The hockey team fan girls." Tori explained. "They're absolutely crazy!"

"Owen had a few last year when he was on the team, these girls make Beliebers look sane." Tristan said, rolling his eyes at the memories of the so-called "puck bunnies".

"So do these girls just follow them around?" I asked. I couldn't imagine these puckbunnies. I couldn't imagine a group of girls swarming in front of the ice rink and going to games just to see the Ice Hounds. In fact, all I could imagine was a bin full of rabbit-hockey puck hybrids.

"They do that and _other _things with the teammates." Tristan said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"Throw their bras at them when their playing?" I asked.

"Oh my God, no, stupid! These girls also sleep with them and worship the floors they walk on. It's pretty sad." Tristan said.

"Oh." I said quietly, shifting in my seat uncomfortably at the thought of Cam sleeping or even kissing another girl but me.

"It's so sad how desperate some of those bunnies are." Tori said, laying her head on Zig's chest.

"So they're all easy and hot?" I said, trying to not be nervous.

"Some are pretty hot," Tori said, shrugging.

"But you know Owen; he'd sleep with anyone basically." Tristan said.

"So not true, bro, I have standards." Owen's gruff voice snapped from behind the couch. We all turned our heads in unison to the threshold to see Owen and two other guys in Ice Hound letterman jackets looking in on us.

"Oh my bad, never realized you had a type." Tristan drawled sarcastically.

Owen rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

And with that he and the two guys headed towards the kitchen.

Tristan's eyes followed his brother and then turned back to us.

"Surprised he'd even call me his brother in front of his hockey friends," he said bitterly.

"Is he still ignoring you at school and denying you're his brother?" Tori asked with an angry frown.

"Of course he is. The only time I can ever talk to him is if I go to the weight room and pretend I don't know him and am not conversing with him." Tristan sighed and placed his cheek into his palm.

I felt bad for Tristan. Sure Katie wasn't in the running for sibling of the year and was annoying and took ultimate pleasure in destroying my life, but at least she didn't deny my existence and talked to me at school.

"Well Owen is a complete jackass, Tris. Screw him." Zig said angrily.

"Yeah," Tori agreed. "He has absolutely no right treating you like that."

Tristan gave them a pointed look. "You two don't get it. Whether I like it or not Owen is my brother and I care about him. It doesn't matter how little he loves me or if he resents my existence, he's my family and I love him."

I gave Tristan a sad smile and grabbed him hand.

Zig and Tori didn't really get the sibling bond, since they didn't have a brother or sister. Siblings sometimes sucked, but you had to love them anyway. No matter how many nasty drinks they made you drink at tea parties, or how they made you run with them every morning before the sun rose during soccer season, or if they constantly ruined your life they were still someone you loved; even if that love held some bitterness to it.

"Now let's drop this subject before it kills the mood." Tristan declared, sitting up straighter. "I don't want anything to dampen the fact that I don't have to wear that hideous yellow polo and khakis attire ever again."

"Yes! Goodbye ugly skirt. Whoever came up with that uniform was clearly fashion illiterate." Tori said, twirling a dark curl around her finger.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "I'm going to miss not having to pick out clothes every morning."

And the yellow was my color. Okay, not really, that uniform made me look silly, but it involved a few extra minutes of sleep, and I like sleep more than I like to look presentable. Sue me.

Tori and Tristan laughed and Zig wore an uncomfortable expression and looked down at the school khakis he was wearing in shame.

"Yeah," he agreed, fingering the pants. "The khakis are comfortable and stuff."

Tori shuddered. "Those pants chaffed like crazy. Ugh, Tristan these two are clearly hopeless."

"Agreed," Tristan nodded. "At least I knew Zig was always hopeless when it came to fashion, but Maya, we always thought there was some hope for you."

"Hey!" Zig said, tossing a pillow at Tristan. "Don't insult my style."

I took the pillow from my lap and hit him in the arm. "Yeah, and if you must know, I am very fashionable. A fashion guru some would say. I am practically the next Rachel McAdams!" I said, crossing my arms in front of my chest and sticking my nose into the air.

"Whatever you say, Miss McAdams," Tristan said, patting the top of my head, making me swat his hand away.

"Aw, Tris, don't mess up her hair!" Tori whined, getting up to move over to me. "She still has her date with Cam!"

"It's not a date!" I said my face beet red again.

"Of course it isn't." Tori said, obviously not paying attention as she tried to pat my hair down. "God, I think the frizz is growing."

"Will you leave my hair alone?" I snapped, jumping up from my spot.

"Aw, she's blushing!" Zig cooed.

"Shut it."

"So do we really have to wait for tomorrow to meet prince charming?" Tristan asked.

"Yes, but at this rate I may not let you." I said, placing my hands on my hips trying to look intimidating.

"Stop that, you're going to pop a blood vessel." Tori said, moving over to fix my hair. "Maybe we could put your hair into a side braid."

"No, a side braid would make her look stupid." Tristan said.

"Would you two leave me and my frizzy mop of hair alone?" I wailed.

"No can do, May-May," Tristan said in a singsong voice.

"Yep, we're going to fix you up for your date." Tori squealed.

"Damn," I heard Zig mutter. "I knew I should have hung out with Damon today."

* * *

After being in Tristan and Tori's careful hands I felt like Katniss Everdeen being with her prep team. My hair had been tugged on and brushed into smooth ringlets. It was a miracle that my hair was unfrizzed. I could practically hear the angels sing as I made my way to the Dot.

I saw Cam in the window sitting at a table in the corner looking at his phone. From this angel I couldn't see his black eye and he looked perfect and I felt my legs turn to overcooked pasta.

"Keep it cool, Matlin. Be cool and don't screw up." I muttered to myself as I opened the door and walked in.

Cam looked up and his big brown eyes met mine and I walked into some boy who I recognized from my math class who snapped at me to watch where I was going.

Cam stood up and began making his way over to me like a gentleman. "Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, I just tripped. Two left feet I have." I winced. Maya Matlin: Not keeping it cool since 1997.

"Oh." Cam said. "Ah do you want to get some coffee?"

"Yeah," I said, getting in line with him. "So how was practice?"

"It was good. A little painful, but it was good."

"So hockey is a sport of pain?" I asked.

"Mostly," he said.

I turned to observe the other customers as he read the latte sign overhead and noticed the bimbos glaring at me.

It wasn't the first time these three had ever glared at me; I mean Lonnie O'Neil hated my guts since kindergarten when I threw grass in her hair, but never at this level of hate and malice.

I felt like I should have been more terrified than annoyed.

I glared back at them, putting all my hatred for them into this one glare.

Lonnie O'Neil was like the freshman HBIC. How could she not be though? She had long golden hair that flowed in perfect ringlets down her hair. She was practically a real version of some deleted Disney Princess. Then of course she was the only girl who could ever rival with Tori's fashion, mainly because her parents were a bit richer.

Then of course her two handmaidens, the super annoying Jayne Weber with her high pitched squeaky voice that sounded super fake and made me want to punch babies and kick puppies. That and she seriously thought she was better than you. Like talking to her took all you had not to punch her in the face. Jayne and her stupid pin-straight red hair and cute freckles had nothing on the dumb and gullible Georgie Karson. Georgie clearly would only ever go anywhere because she was super pretty. She and Blake Lively could practically be twins.

Cam and I ordered our drinks and were making our way back to the table when it happened. One of the bimbos did it and I put my money on it being Jayne because she'd do anything Lonnie said. All I know was one minute I was following Cam to the table and someone stuck their foot out and I went flying, and so did my coffee. The next thing I knew my caramel iced latte was dripping down Cam's head and I was sprawled on the floor as he looked down upon me in disbelief as the three banes of my existence cackled behind him.

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**Author's Note: **Yes, I got the bimbos from Mean Girls! I admit it! But there has to be freshmen puck bunnies and they were more inspired from this one girl and her group of friends I didn't like. So yeah Mean Girls + Real Annoying Chicks from My Life = Bimbos. Okay. Good. So please review because they make me smile and I'll try to have the next chapter up ASAP!


	4. Chapter Four: Revamping

**Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.**

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**Author's Note: **Sorry for the short time of no update, I was stuck on where to go, again. But anyways, thanks once again to all those who review/read/favorite/follow this story, I'm glad people enjoy it! **Patrica**, I'm sorry to hear about your dog, I wish I could give you a hug and I'm glad my story helped, and **MakingFrenchFriesInTheSnow** everything bad does happen to Maya, her luck is quite lacking and I don't see that changing in the near future lol!

So anyways, onwards my beautiful readers! Be free of my author's note!

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**Chapter Four: Revamping**

I looked up at Cam, who was dripping in cold, icy coffee, caramel and whipped cream all over his letterman jacket.

Damn. That jacket would not be cheap to dry clean at all.

If he didn't kill me – which I'm sure he wouldn't considering he was staring at me with a look of horror, my mother certainly would.

I could see it now: Me hanging from the ceiling and Katie in a blindfold, beating me like a piñata.

"Oh my god, Maya!" Lonnie said her voice whiny as usual. I could hear her hoping up from her chair, and I could hear Jayne and Georgie giggling.

I hate them so much. They're a bunch of stupid life ruiners.

I wanted to jump up from where I lay on the floor, but couldn't. It was like my shame and humiliation had superglued me to the spot, making me suffer through the misery of the bimbos laughing at me, and Cam staring at me like I had sprouted an extra head.

"A-are you okay, Maya?" Cam asked timidly. The poor boy probably thought talking to me would make the ceiling collapse on him by talking to me. And I guess considering that within a day of knowing me I fell down a flight of stairs on to him, gave him a black eye and now dropped coffee onto his head, he wouldn't be wrong to be paranoid about that.

Lonnie, who had a handful of tissues, came up to Cam, stepping on my hand in the process and making me cry out in pain.

"God, Maya, you're such a klutz." She said, about to attempt to clean off Cam's jacket when he moved passed her and bent own and gave me his hand.

I looked at it for a split second, feeling the butterflies flutter in my stomach so hard I thought I was going to be sick. The whole situation was mortifying and somewhat romantic.

"Thanks," I said sheepishly, not looking him in the eye.

The bimbos' were looking at me with wide eyes of disbelief and Georgie Karson's mouth was parted into a big "o" giving her a stupid fish look.

I couldn't take it, standing there holding Cam's warm, sticky hand with the bimbos' and the rest of the Dot looking at me. So I did what most girls in embarrassing situations: cry and ran away.

Except in my case my eyes began to fill with hot tears, I jerked my hand away from his and screamed "sorry" like a rabid banshee, and threw open the door to almost slip and hit my head on the doorknob.

With people laughing behind me, I stood up and ran out the door.

My life is seriously such a tragic dried out cliché.

* * *

I had to decide where I was going to hideout until dinner, and my list was rather short.

My room was a big no, considering he lived across the hall and could come in, or worse, hear me sob about how tragic the whole situation was.

Basically my whole house in general was an overall no-no, considering there would be an encounter with Katie, who would take pleasure in my pain like the awful big sister she is, or having to face Cam.

Tristan's was a no, seeing that I had only left his house fifteen minutes before and would feel like an even bigger awkward idiot going back.

I didn't know where Zig lived and he never gave me a number to reach him for times like this and to be honest, Zig Novak wasn't exactly the teddy bear to turn to when you're sad. He'd be more sympathetic and Katie, but that's not exactly saying much on his part.

So that left Tori. I'd never been to Tori's, but I knew she was wealthy. I sighed, and sat down on a bench outside of a flower shop and pulled my phone out from my pocket, trying to think of how to start my message.

**hey, I know we just hung out, but can we hangout again for a few hours? i don't want to go home just yet.**

Pressing send, I waited anxiously for her response. I felt so weird and awkward asking to hang out again. I felt exactly like a needy, pain in the ass friend.

**sure! do you want to come over? we're having Chinese tonight, and we order so much i'm sure my parents wouldn't care. btw i want to hear all the details about your incredibly short coffee date with your hockey star! ;)**

**trust me, you don't, and i'll be there in twenty, as long as you're sure your parents won't care. **

**they said it was fine, and tell me what happened when you get here!**

Tori sent me her address and I got up to make my way to the bus stop, calling my mom to tell her I'd be eating with Tori and her family. My mom was hesitant, but with some begging, she cracked and told me to be back by nine. That gave me a few hours before having to possibly face Cam and his possible questions about my taking off.

* * *

Tori's house was big. It wasn't a mansion, but I could probably fit my house into hers and still have some wiggle room.

Walking up to the door and ringing the doorbell I waited, looking around at the winter flowers and the porch swing. The door opened to reveal a thin woman with a warm smile and dark hair.

"You must be Maya." She said happily as she threw an arm over my shoulder and gave me a hug. Caught off guard I gave her an awkward one arm hug back.

"Hello, Mrs. Santamaria." I said politely.

"Please call me Veronica," she said, waving a hand at the very thought of being called "Mrs. Santamaria".

Why do adults insist on telling their children's friends to call them by their first names? It just sounds so disrespectful!

I smiled, at a complete loss for words, when Tori bounded down the stairs.

"Maya," Tori squealed, hugging me. "So how did your date go? And why aren't you with him?"

Tori went on a string of questions leading me up the stairs to her room, and once we were inside she kicked the door shut, placing her hands on her hips.

"What happened?"

I rocked back and forth on my heels, staring at her pink carpet. "The stupid bimbos' happened!" I snapped angrily, feeling frustrated tears well up in my eyes as I thought of the foot that came out from under the table, ruining possibly any chance I ever had with Cam.

"Who?" Tori asked, annoyed that I was using a code to answer her question.

"Uh, that's kind of, um," I said, feeling my face redden. Damn. I didn't want to look like a petty middle school student and tell Tori that it was the nickname I gave to her friends.

"Spit it out, Matlin!" Tori said, throwing her hands up in the air.

"It's what I kind of call Lonnie, Jayne, and Georgie. In my head of course, not out loud." I explained, my words rushing together.

Tori blinked at me for a moment and then she snorted. "So what did they do?"

I told her everything: Cam and I getting coffee, the foot tripping me, my coffee flying onto Cam, my running away from him after a semi-romantic moment. Each point I got to Tori had the right expression and used the right sounds to go with the mood. She was very good with sympathy; maybe she could give Katie a crash course.

"I can't believe they'd do that to you!" Tori fumed, her face red with anger when I finished.

Tori had been friends with Lonnie for a long time since they did pageants together, and Jayne and Georgie were her friends by association.

"Yeah, well I can. Lonnie hates me and I can't exactly say I'm a fan of hers either." I said darkly.

"I guess they must be Cam's puck bunnies." Tori said, a small, amused smile spreading on her face.

I didn't really get what she found so funny, but I really didn't care. I was still dwelling on my embarrassment and the fact I would possibly have to face Cam before tomorrow morning.

I wonder how long I could hide in my room before my dad busted the door down. I could climb up the side of the house somehow and schedule bathroom breaks and food missions late at night and early in the morning to never have to face my family or Cam.

Or maybe I could convince my parents to let me live in the old tree house.

"I think we need to give you a new look." Tori said suddenly.

I blinked at her, confused to what she meant. "A new look? What's wrong with my current look?" I asked, fingering my paint splattered t-shirt and denim jacket.

"Well," Tori said uneasily. "No offense, Maya, but you're look is so…childish."

I felt a blush blossom on my cheeks and my eyes well. It was like another dose of embarrassment, and I knew Tori was trying to be nice, or as nice as one could be telling someone that what they wear is a no.

Tori grabbed my hand and moved me to her full length. "Imagine it, Maya, a whole new look. Accessories, hair, makeup, clothes, the whole works."

"Tori –" I began to protest as she ran to her closet and threw it open.

"I think spring colors suit you." Tori said, shoving hangers out of the way to find what she wanted.

"Tori a new look costs money, which I don't have." I protested.

"That's why you have me!" Tori said, coming out of her closet with an armful of clothes that she dropped on her white canopy bed.

Tori's room was quite large. Maybe Mine, Cam, and Katie's room combined could fit in it. Her walls were a pale pink and her furniture was a bright white. Her walls had a poster of _One Direction_ and small magazine cut-outs of Harry Styles, and various other celebrities and models, and she had stuffed animals and pictures on display on free spots throughout. It was exactly what I had expected Tori's room to be.

Tori grabbed a shirt and placed it in front of me. "Yellow is definitely a good color for you. Just not that ugly polo, that didn't look good on anyone." Tori said, shuddering at the memory of the yellow uniform polo.

I looked at the pale yellow v-neck. It did look good on me.

"Here," Tori said, handing me some clothes. "Try these on; if they fit they're yours."

I gaped at her. This is had to be some kind of joke. Some of these clothes had price tags on, and regardless of the price tags they looked expensive.

"Tori I can't –" I started.

"Maybe I have some jewelry I never wear." She said, ignoring me and going over to her dresser, grabbing a box and bringing it over to her bed.

"Tori, won't your parents be mad if you give me your clothes?" I asked, reading a price tag. 24.95, I could practically see my father having a mini heart attack if I ever showed him the tag.

"As if, those are clothes from two years ago," Tori said waving a hand.

I tried to protest again, but Tori gave me a pointed look. "Try them on."

I sighed, looking at my armful and relented. If my wardrobe was "childish" and Tori was offering me these to take off her hands, and she had no intention of wearing them, what was the harm of trying them on?

"If you don't try them on yourself I'll force them on you." She warned, and she wasn't kidding either, judging by her expression.

I sighed and went into her closet and began to try on the yellow shirt and jeans.

"Are you done?" Tori asked after a few moments, knocking on the door.

I opened it hesitantly. The pants were a bit loose, but the top fit nicely.

"I knew it! That top looks perfect on you!" Tori squealed, clapping her hands excitedly.

I made my way over to the mirror and saw the same, boring, frizzy-haired Maya, except she was in a pretty top.

"Yeah," I smiled, "it looks nice. Thank you, Tori."

Tori grabbed some jewelry and began placing it on me. I wasn't one for necklaces or rings, and unless it was one of my ratty friendship bracelets from Camp, jewelry wasn't my thing, but Tori's stuff looked nice on me. A bit gaudy and misplaced on me, but it was alright.

Tori stood next to me at the mirror, looking at me with sad eyes. "I remember when I was that thin." She sighed, taking the fabric of the pale yellow top in her fingers.

"Tori," I said looking at her as if she'd lost her mind. "You are thin. Look at you, you're gorgeous. I'm just some flat-chested, frizzy haired freak."

"As if, Maya. You're gorgeous, and with this new look the boys won't be able to keep their paws off you."

I nearly laughed, but Tori wanted to do this for me and I wasn't going to go ruin her fun.

* * *

Mr. Santamaria insisted on taking me home, which I was grateful for because a bus at night sounds dangerous, and my dad was working a late shift.

It was after nine when I walked into the door only to find my mom, Katie, and Cam sitting in the living room watching tv.

"Hey, Maya," Katie said, eyeing my hair which Tori had straightened and used some product, which she shoved into my hand to take with me, that helped my frizzy greatly, and makeup Tori had smeared on me.

I had a bag full of clothes, accessories, makeup and hair supplies to help out my new look, which made me feel self-conscious about since my mom would probably be mad if she found out.

"Uh, hi, guys." I said, about to head up the stairs.

"How was your day, Maya?" My mom asked, also observing my hair and makeup, but didn't say anything about it, even though I knew she desperately wanted too.

"Good, I'm just going to go to bed. Night," I said, about to go up.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to go to bed too. Practice wore me out."

Dammit.

"Alright, good night," my mom said, eyeing us suspiciously, but not sure if she should pry.

"Sweet dreams, May-May." Katie said a knowing look in her eyes. My problem was I didn't know if she knew about the clothes or the whole incident with Cam.

Either way, both were equally embarrassing and I didn't want my family to know about either one of them, and I didn't want Cam to know I had Tori's clothes to make myself over.

I went at top speed up the stairs, but Cam caught up.

"Hey," he said, keeping his voice low.

"H-hey," I said, trying very hard not to look at him.

"About what happened," Cam said uneasily.

I felt my face burn. Why don't I just dye my face red? It's not like anyone would know the difference since I basically walk around like a tomato.

"Are you okay from the fall?" He asked.

"I'm fine," I said, staring down the hall.

_Please go to bed. Please go to bed._ I begged silently to myself. Universe be merciful, I'm literally going to melt into a puddle because of my embarrassment.

"Are you sure? You fell pretty hard." He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you fine?" I asked, still not looking at him.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" He asked confusedly.

"Well in the past twenty-four hours of barely knowing me I pretty much figured out how to do every bad thing to you." I said, face burning and tears in my eyes. Saying it out loud felt like someone was punching me repeatedly in the gut and that my heart was going to explode from nerves.

He gave an uneasy laugh. "I guess. But it's not that big of a deal."

"I totally get it if you're mad." I said.

"But I'm not." He said.

I looked at him finally, searching his face for a lie, narrowing my eyes suspiciously. "You're not."

"No. And if I was mad at you because of things like that, I'd be kind of a jerk." He said with a shrug.

"I guess." I said, a smile spreading over my face despite my shame and humiliation.

He was perfect! So completely perfect!

"Well good night, Maya." He said, going into his room, leaving me standing there dumbfounded.

"Yeah, good night," I whispered softly, smiling like a moron.

* * *

**Author's Note: **There was going to be another scene, but I think ending it there is just fine. So how'd you enjoy it? Did you even like it? Review it maybe?


	5. Chapter Five: Signs

**Disclaimer: I don't Own Degrassi.**

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hello, hello, my lovely readers! So as always I want to thank everyone who has reviewed/read/faved/followed because you're all perfect, and I appreciate it all. I am quite sad that no one guessed Maya invaded the Eclare bench (le gasp!) and I forgot to put that it was Eclare's bench in my last note. LOL. So this chapter has the beginnings of a friendship I wanted Degrassi to do since they introduced Maya and I thought they'd do it when they gave us Whisperhug. Okay, enough of my rambles, lets read Maya's ramblings!

* * *

Chapter Five: Signs

I was on my way to lunch when I noticed the flyer. The fact that I noticed it at all pretty much let me know it was fate to find it, but at the time, I didn't know it would lead to something awful. Even if the awful thing wasn't my fault, I knew deep down, the chain of events all began with the stupid flyer.

In the hordes of flyers for school events and clubs, a red and black flyer struck my interest. I pulled it from its tack to get a closer look and nearly jumped up and down with joy reading the answer to my musical prayers.

**Audition to join a new Degrassi band. If interested in trying out, please see Mo Mashkour immediately for details.**

I nearly sprinted to the cafeteria to find him. A band was exactly what I needed to join, especially since the failure I had last semester with joining one.

Niner band hadn't gotten any better. Even with trying out my new instrument I still didn't feel challenged enough; guess that's kind of the downfall of being a genius. Not tooting my own horn or anything.

I was reading the sign, walking at a fast pace to the cafeteria I walked straight into someone. I was about to fall back onto the floor when someone grabbed my waist and righted me.

I had closed my eyes, expecting hard impact with the hall floor, and immediately opened them to see Zig smiling broadly.

"Hey, Maya," he said cheerfully, as if I didn't just plow right into him. "Where's the fire?"

I felt my face heat up, but immediately shoved the flyer in his face. "Want to join a rockband?"

Zig took the flyer from my hand and shrugged. "Why not?"

We immediately went to hunt down Mo, who was dating my older sister's best friend. I hoped to find him before he was sitting with Katie and Marisol, an encounter with either of them while trying to talk to a senior as niner about joining a band was just asking for them to mock us.

Mo, thankfully, was in line grabbing a plate of cheesy fries. I told Zig to wait at the end of the line and I would get the details, and made my way over to him.

"Hey, Mo," I said, smiling widely.

"Oh hey," he said, looking uneasily. It was probably the smile. "You're Katie's little sister, right?"

I tried not to grimace. "Uh, yeah, anyways I wanted to know about the band." I said, holding up the flyer.

He glanced at the flyer and at me. "What about it?"

"I was just curious what music you played?"

"I was hoping rock. Classic, I guess." He looked as if he wanted to bolt. And I had stopped my creepy smile, so I couldn't figure out why.

"Has anyone joined yet?" I asked.

"Just a few people have asked. Look, uh…"

"Maya," I filled in.

"Yeah, Maya, not to sound like an ass, which I probably will anyways, I want a more… older look."

"Is my age a problem? Cause my friend Zig wanted to join too." I asked, feeling the wind in my sails stop.

"No, it's just…" He sighed. "Fine, just meet me in the music room after school. Bring your friend."

And with that he walked away. I resisted the urge to happy dance right in the middle of the room, and instead turned to Zig and gave him a thumbs up, which he returned.

* * *

"Why are you two so happy?" Tori asked suspiciously when Zig and I finally joined her and Tristan.

Zig and I sat down with our trays, and I nearly exploded with excitement, ignoring Tori's obvious jealousy and suspicion.

"Zig and I are going to join a band!" I squealed.

"Yay!" Tristan and Tori said together.

"Who's band?" Tori asked, her suspicion and jealousy gone from her face as she began to read the back to a granola bar with a concerned expression.

"Mo's," I said, taking a fry from my plate.

"I can't wait to see you two jam out." Tristan said.

I laughed. "It's just what I need to challenge myself!"

"What about the trumpet?" Tori asked, tossing aside her bar in disgust.

"Mastered it," I sighed.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" Zig asked.

"I already did," she snapped. "You and Maya nearly missed lunch."

Zig held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry, it's just every time we eat you read the back of everything like some crazed calorie-obsessed girl."

_Oh geeze_, I thought, and moved my tray away from them in case Tori decided to smash his face with my banana or something.

"I am not a _calorie-obsessed girl_, Zigmound Novok!" She seethed.

Zig could be _very _stupid sometimes, if you couldn't deduct that from yourself.

"I was just saying –" Zig tried, but Tristan clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Don't keep digging your grave, Ziggy. Just let it slide and end it while you still have your head."

Tori gave an angry sigh. "I'm going to the bathroom!" And she got up, giving me a pointed look.

I sighed. "Me too," I said, and then gave the two boys a stern look. "Don't you d_are _eat my fries."

The two nodded, and I linked arms with Tori and walked to the girls' washroom.

"Honestly," Tori fumed, once we were inside the privacy of the washroom. "He has been accusing me on and off about my eating habits ever since we started dating in grade eight. It's so annoying!"

"Why doesn't he think you eat? You eat a lot." I said, hopping up onto the dry spot of the counter.

Tori glared. "Are you calling me fat?"

"No, I'm calling you an eater." I said.

"That sounds like an insult." Tori accused, tears building in her eyes.

"Well it's not." I said simply.

"I think it is." Tori whimpered.

"Honestly, you are starting to sound like Katie. Now that's an insult!" I said, twirling a frizzed out curl around my finger. "A lot of starving children in Africa would love to be an eater."

Tori snorted, wiping away her stray tears. "Damn, I smeared my makeup. And speaking of makeup, where is yours?"

I looked away and muttered something incoherently, trying to come up with an excuse.

"What?" Tori snapped, placing her hands on her hips.

"I didn't have time this morning. How is anyone supposed to find the time to shower, get dressed _and _eat? I need my beauty sleep!" I rambled, feeling pressured by her placing her hands on her hips. It was so eerily like my mother and how she gets everyone to fess up and feel tiny.

"Go to bed earlier to wake up at five." Tori said simply, applying eyeliner.

"Not even if my house was burning down, would I roll myself out of bed at five in the morning. Beauty isn't worth that amount of pain." I said seriously.

"Says you," Tori said.

"Says the world," I said, throwing my hands up in exaggeration.

Tori rolled her eye, ending our discussion.

* * *

"Are you guys here to audition for the band?" A girl with weird pigtails and a cat sweatshirt asked.

"Uh, yeah," I said eyeing her.

"Oh, good, I haven't missed it yet!" She exclaimed happily.

"Right," I smiled uneasily. I looked over at Zig, who was giving the girl a weird look.

"Okay, everyone," Mo said as he walked in the room, closing the door behind him. "Just give it your best shot. Anyone want to go first?"

The weird girl's hand shot into the air eagerly, as the rest of us looked around the room, trying to avoid eye contact with Mo.

Musical genius, or not, no way would I go first!

"Anyone else?" Mo asked, almost begging us to go before her. "Alright, Imogen, let's just… get this over with."

"Goody," she squealed, holding up a case.

She sent us two old fashioned record players and put two wine glasses on top of the records. She poured water into both glasses, kneeling on the floor to carefully measuring each and nodded in approval. Flipping on both players, they slowly spun, the glasses shaking slightly.

She placed her fingers carefully into the glasses and music began to play, and then the girl must have become possessed.

"WOOO-OOOO-HOOOO!" She sounded, moving her head with the tune. "Eeee-oooooo-wooo!"

I felt my face burn watching this as a few people began to snicker. Mo looked at her with wide eyes.

Once she was done, she placed her hands behind her back and bowed, though no one clapped for her. I would have to be polite, but I was too stunned to even consider clapping, or laugh at her like everyone else, but Mo, had done.

"Thanks, Imogen. That was really… different, but kind of cool."

She curtsied her thank you, bowed again at us, then gathered up her stuff and left.

"Weird chick," Zig muttered at me.

"I'll say."

"So… anyone else want to try and top that?" Mo asked, trying to ease a bit of the tension.

I slowly raised my hand, and he nodded at me, but giving me the same exasperated look he'd given that Imogen girl.

Gathering my cello case and my music, I headed to the front, ready to wow the room; except in a normal way.

* * *

"So, you're joining a _rock band_?" My mother asked with a sour expression that night at dinner.

"Yep, well it's not rock really, but it's a band none the less." I said with a wide smile, spooning potatoes onto my plate.

"Well aren't you the next Hayley Williams." Katie cooed sarcastically, shoving a piece of steak in her mouth.

I glowered at her. "Can you please stop being a kill joy, Katherine?"

Katie opened her mouth to retort, but my father cut her off. "Maya, what about school?"

"It'll still be there." I replied cheekily, butter a biscuit.

Cam snorted, but hid his mouth with a napkin. I smiled back at him.

"Your grades are very important, Maya." My dad continued, ignoring my cheeky comment. "A band could get in the way with homework, or extracurricular that could get you into a university."

"But I want to do music." I said simply. "Beginners band is too slow, I need a challenge. This band is a challenge!"

"But, Maya," my mother said in her no-nonsense voice, "you need to think about your future."

"At the philharmonics?" I asked.

"A _real _job," she sighed.

I didn't argue back. I would have if Cam wasn't there, but nothing was standing in the way of me getting into this band – except for Mo. Mo had final say if I joined. But nothing else would get in my way!

* * *

Mo came up to me the next day between third and fourth when I was getting my French book from my locker.

"Hey, Maya," he said.

I looked up, waiting for what he had to say. If it was bad news, I wanted my heart to be prepared.

"So, I know you know this because I told your friend earlier, but…" he smiled, "you're in."

I squealed and hugged him. "Sorry," I said quickly, releasing him from the hug, "I'm just really happy."

"S'okay," he said, waving the offense off. "Practice is after school in the music room, don't be late."

"I won't!" I said, feeling like an eager beaver. "I won't make you regret this, Mo!"

"Okay… well, see you afterschool." He said, and walked away.

"So did you make it?" A voice asked from behind me. I smiled, turning to face Cam, knocking into him.

"Sorry!" I said, wincing a bit. "And yes, I did!"

"That's great!" He said, ignoring the fact that I smacked into his chest.

"Thanks," I said, tucking a curl behind my ear and tugging on the pink sweater Tori had given me. "So… ready for French?"

"I guess," he shrugged. "Actually, I have to get my book, so I'll meet you in class. Congrats about making it into your band, Maya, I'm glad you made it."

"Thanks… again." I smiled, trying to control the butterflies fluttering around in the pit of my stomach. "See you in class!"

He walked away, and I shut my locker and leaned against it for a few moments with my eyes closed, smiling. Was it normal to like someone this much? Once the butterflies flew off, I opened my eyes to come face-to-face with a bright, eager smile.

"You like him," Imogen said in a singsong voice.

I felt all the blood flood to my face as she said this and a few people glanced over.

"Like who?" I asked, angrily, shoving past her to make my way to French.

"Campbell Soup Saunders, of course." Imogen exclaimed gleefully, skipping after me.

This caused a few freshmen and sophomores lingering in the halls to glance and give dirty looks, but turn away with sneers. Guess I'm not competition enough for the puck bunnies.

"What? No I don't!" I cried, resisting the urge to jump into a closet and hide.

"Yes you do!" She squealed, smiling as if Christmas had come and Santa and his reindeer were parked outside giving free rides.

"No. I. Don't." I seethed my face so hot I felt like I was getting a third-degree from it.

"You do!" She sang, stepping in my path, pointing a long, slim finger in my face. My patience with her was at an all-time low; I'm not particularly fond of people pointing at me, or shoving things in my face. And she was embarrassing me. The worst part was, I didn't think she even realized that this was humiliating for me, and that someone could hear and tell Cam, or worse, Cam could hear her nonsense for himself.

Either way, this girl was ruining my life.

"What is wrong with you?" I snapped at her, knocking her hand aside angrily.

"Ha! You _do _like him!" She practically cried.

"One: That doesn't prove anything. Two: You're mental. And three: No, I don't." I said, crossing my arms across my chest.

She smirked. "Oh, mini Mats, I am a keen observer of human behavior, and trust me, you have it bad for the puppy ice hound." Imogen said knowingly.

"If I do have a crush – which I don't – what's it to you?" I bit out angrily.

I swear if I don't have blood pressure problems by the time I graduate high school it will be a miracle. Or it will be a small consolation for my sporadic sufferings and torments.

"Well, mini Mats, today is your lucky day!" Imogen exclaimed with a smile that scared me. "I, Imogen Moreno, am going to help you win your puppy ice hound's heart!"

Oh, lucky me…

* * *

**Author's Note:** Huh? Huh? How did you like? I don't know about you, but I love the possibility of Imogen and Maya's friendship, I hope they elaborate on the Whisperhug friendship because these guys are such amazing characters and should have friendship! Anyways, it was so hard and so tempting to write the boob scene, but alas, I couldn't. I hope you guys liked it, and review, please. I love you guys and I love your words of kindness! Please don't deprive me of them!


	6. Chapter Six: Experience

**Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.**

* * *

**Chapter Six: Experience**

I looked at Imogen with wide eyes as she smiled broadly at me.

_Lord, please give me strength! _I prayed silently to myself.

I closed my eyes and took a calming breath then gave her a forced smile. "Look… Imogen," I sighed, placing the palm of my hand to my forehead, feeling a headache coming on. "It's sweet that you want to help, but… no. I don't like Cam. At all. Period."

"Ah," Imogen said, once again pointing at me, "that's where you're wrong, mini Mats. You _do _like Campbell Saunders."

I stamped my foot, trying to suppress angry tears. And don't you _dare _even judge me! I've been watching Katie through these temper tantrums for years; if she can get away with it then so should I!

"I – DO – NOT – LIKE – HIM!" I said, emphasizing the word with each stomp of my foot.

Imogen just laughed, covering a dainty hand over her mouth. "Denial is the first step."

I gave a frustrated noise that would have been a scream if we weren't in an almost empty hallway. "That's when grieving, and I don't like him! And now, thanks to you, I'm late to French!" I said, shoving past her.

"See you at band practice, mini Mats! We can come up with your game plan then!" Imogen called after me. Even though my back was turned to her, I could practically see her waving goodbye with her bright, too-friendly-for-anyone smile.

_Why me? _I wondered silently to myself as I made my way to class with a sense of dread, thinking of her skipping around and singing "Maya lurves Campbell Soup Saunders" in that stupid singsong voice of hers. The very image of this made me want to crawl into my locker and hide out till the final bell.

Sometimes I can't help but wonder if my past self so horrible, so inhumane, that I have to be punished by being awkward and have the worst of luck. Maybe I was somehow Voldemort…

You know if that's even possible…

* * *

I sat alone in the music room playing my cello. I felt the music soothe my nerves as I closed my eyes, letting the music flow from my fingers. The song had gone incomplete for so long I was impressed I could still play it, and possibly even finish it.

It was a deep melody full of sad, low notes that would probably make Sauve question my happiness.

My biggest fear, ironically, was that people would hear my private music. My music was my diary, it's how I could express all the feelings and teen angst that I had to suppress; it wasn't something I'd go out in the world to play for people.

Despite what Tristan and Tori said, I wasn't the next Taylor Swift. I may have curly (or in my case, frizzy) blonde hair and an ear for turning life events into song, but I wasn't exactly going to hand my diary to the planet on a cd to let them mock me. Okay, I probably would to have them pay to mock me, but for some reason it doesn't seem worth it.

"Wow. That's really good." A person said from the door.

I was so lost in my said, angst out melody I didn't notice the door open, or that someone was watching me. Kind of the downside of being oblivious and being foolishly naïve to think there was actual privacy in high school.

I jumped in my seat, nearly dropping my cello in the process of my mini heart attack. I turned to face them with the intention of berating their rudeness by interrupting me and creepily watching me play from the doorway when I saw that person was Cam.

I felt my face redden as my anger was replaced with embarrassment.

"Oh. Thanks." I said, turning back around in my seat, trying to hide my face.

I heard him make his way over to me, and before I could casually put away my music, he reached out and picked it up.

This must be what Motzart must have felt like rolling in his grave when people read his unfinished pieces. I want to roll around on the floor till it opens up and sucks me in.

"Is it finished?" He asked, not looking at me.

"No," I mutter. "It's one of those pieces that can never be finished. All muse, no way to express it."

He put it back down on the podium.

"Do you play anything?" I asked curiously, as I got up to put away my cello, taking my music quickly before he could change his mind and go back to reading it.

"Yeah," he said, sitting down in an open seat, "I played guitar for a few years."

"Do you still play?" I asked curiously. To be honest, I didn't peg him for a guitar person, but I was picturing him playing an acoustic at a coffee shop as people snapped their fingers for him, and it almost made me laugh.

"I did, but hockey kind of got in the way, so I stopped." He said with a shrug, but his face betrayed his nonchalant façade. A sad look passed over his eyes for a split second, and then he smiled. "I know you told me you play almost every string instrument on face range, but what other hobbies do you have?"

I blinked for a moment, feeling like a complete airhead. Other hobbies? Music was pretty much everything to me, I doubt it was even considered a "hobby" anymore.

"I guess reading, if that's considered a hobby." I shrugged.

A look passed over his face. It was a look I recognized from Katie when she gets an idea. And usually with those ideas we, or I guess it's more like _I _get into trouble and she walks away Scott free. Seeing that look on his face scared me.

"Do you skate?" He asked.

"No. Haven't you notice I have gravity issues without the help of skates?" I asked him jokingly, but I could feel where this was going, and my instincts were telling me to say no.

He laughed. "True, but I think I could teach you."

"Oh do you?" I said.

I was being flirty. The very acknowledgement of that made my face heat up and the butterflies kick in that the rational part of my brain screaming no became more and more distant.

"Yep, and I want to teach you how to play your national spot. Catch you up on the religion of your people."

I felt a stupid smile form on my face and my knees go weak. "Well if you insist." I shrugged, but as soon as I said it the voice came back screaming its rage at my stupidity.

* * *

"Why so glum, chum?" Zig asked me when I got to the very first band practice.

Adam Torres was tuning his bass over on the other side of the room with Mo, who was talking about some music ideas he had, and looked up and nodded in my direction. I nodded back, putting my cello case on the floor and bending over to open it.

"Cam wants to teach me how to play hockey," I sighed, taking my cello out and sitting on the top of the desk Zig was sitting at.

"Well that's kind of stupid of him." Zig muttered bluntly, reclining his chair onto its back legs.

"Kind of," I said, tossing my head back dramatically. "I mean it's no secret that I'm a bit of a klutz, and ice skating takes balance. Do you want to know what happened the last time I went skating? I fell on Katie, who stood me up and gave me a great big shove so I went really fast and couldn't stop so I fell and broke my wrist."

Zig snorted, "You would."

"This isn't going to end well, you know. I'm going to end up killing myself, or worse, him in some freak skating accident that wouldn't kill a normal person."

"That's a bit… dramatic." Zig said.

I threw up my hands with a groan. "You're no help."

"Well besides your coordination issues, Cam is stupid because you never try and get a person you're with to get into your interests if you're opposites. That's relationships 101."

"That's kind of stupid, but –" then I stopped, realizing what he had said with wide eyes. "Zig, Cam and I aren't together."

Zig's eyes shifted uncomfortably. "You're not?"

"Not that I know of," I said.

An awkward silence hung between us for a moment before Zig coughed.

"Well I thought that's what Tori said last night on the phone. Uh, sorry, never mind. Either way he's crazy because you're klutzy."

"I don't know… it's sweet that he wants to involve me in something he's so passionate about."

"Are you talking about Puppy Soup?" Imogen's high pitched voice came from behind me, making me jump.

Geeze this girl was going to be the death of me.

"No." I said through gritted teeth.

She gave a knowing smile. "Then who were you talking about?"

"Campbell Saunders," Zig answered stupidly.

I sent a glare at him as Imogen began to squeal, jumping up and down clapping her hands with a manic grin.

"HA! I knew you liked him!"

"Is she okay?" Zig asked me quietly, putting his chair back on the floor, trying to distance himself from her.

"I honestly have no idea." I said with a shake of my head.

"Okay!" Mo said, making Imogen stop hoping immediately and turned to face him. "Before we get started, I guess we should –"

"Choose our bands name," Imogen said, smiling giddily.

"Uh, yeah, and decide our music." Mo said, looking at Imogen warily.

"I thought we were doing classic rock," Zig said.

"Well yeah, but Imogen emailed me this last night." Mo said, pulling a piece of paper out of his bag. "It's really good, even if it wasn't exactly what I was going for."

Imogen smiled and bowed. "You're very welcome, Mo Mashkour."

"Yeah, sure, thanks." He said, waving his hand and giving me the paper.

It was a very upbeat song – surprise, surprise – and completely different from my incomplete angst-y song. It was a bit inspiring, which was scary because someone as crazy as Imogen Moreno inspiring people could cause problems. Like dictatorship kind of problems.

"So for the name, I was thinking we could do something different." Imogen said, bouncing up to the front beside Mo.

"Well I kind of thought we could be the Mashkour Experience," Mo said, shrugging and smiling. "It has a nice ring."

"You wish," Adam said, tossing a paper ball at him.

Mo sent him a playful glare and tossed it back.

"How about we call ourselves," she paused, eyes shifting as if she was holding some big top secret, life or death name, and then in quiet voice whispered out, "_Whisper Hug_."

No one said anything in response to this for a minute. No one was seriously considering this name – at least I hope they weren't – there was just nothing to say to her. What kind of name was 'Whisper Hug'? It was stupid, and it didn't make any sense.

"So I guess you guys are in stunned silence because it's such an amazing name. It really captures who we are!" She said philosophically.

"Uh…" Adam said, giving her a look that screamed "you're seriously messed up and need a therapist", "how?"

"Well we could whisper and hug people of course!" Imogen said as if it were obvious.

"Maybe we should vote on this." Mo said, trying to be diplomatic, even though it was obvious he didn't want to, but didn't want to crush her spirit either.

Mo Mashkour was a much better person than I was.

"All for the Mashkour Experience," he said, raising his hand.

Mashkour Experience or Whisper Hug… c'mon, those were horrible choice… of course I picked the latter.

Quit judging me!

* * *

**Author's Note:** And that's how they got their name! Maybe… Ugh, I seriously love crazy!Imo and Maya interaction, like Maya's going to go even more mad than she already was! And Cam seriously is going to teach Maya hockey, and if what I say is wrong, then please take that up with the information I will gather on google, because I can watch it and love it, but I don't know the plays or the technical stuff and refuse to ask my dad! And how's my attempt at Zaya friendship? Good? And I hope Zig was in character because I can kind of see Zig trying to give advice, but not really getting love. Please review!


	7. Chapter Seven: Balance

**Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.**

* * *

**Author's Note: **I am so, so, so sorry about the long wait for this chapter! Classes have been kicking me in the pants, and I hadn't had the time, or creativity to give you all a worthwhile chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Balance**

"Whisper Hug," Mo muttered to himself, shaking his head at Adam and I.

I shrugged, giving him a pleading look.

"In my defense," Adam said, placing the strap of his bass over his head, "both options sucked; the latter just happened to suck a bit less."

I nodded in agreement. "And Whisper Hug isn't t_hat _bad. It's just a bit…"

"Stupid," Zig suggested.

"No," I snapped, "different. And we want to be different."

"Here, here!" Imogen said, pumping her fist in the air.

Imogen, who was still grinning giddily over the name, looking more derange than usual, placed her arm around my neck. "This girl understands the message we will send, you guys, you should learn from her."

I gave a forced smile. "Yeah, sure," I said, trying to get out of her iron grip.

"Our name will be remembered for years to come." Imogen said, getting a dazed look in her eyes.

"Oh god I hope not." Mo muttered, turning his piano on.

Zig snorted.

"Okay," Mo said, changing the subject before Imogen could get any weirder (if that was even possible), and walked over to his bag and pulled out the sheet music and began handing it to us. "I've thought of some chords, but I haven't thought of the lyrics yet."

I read my sheet, nodding in approval. It was exactly what I expected from him: Classic rock.

"This is a good start," Adam said, putting his sheet down and began to tune his bass.

"Yeah, but I'm up for any ideas," Mo said.

Imogen, who had been quiet for a total of five minutes, came back to life with vengeance.

"I have an idea," she squealed, clapping her hands and hopping up and down.

* * *

I collapsed onto the couch, dropping my bag onto the floor, and placing my cello case carefully by my feet.

I felt drained after the first practice. Watching Imogen hope around, making suggestions, and be so hyper was just tiring.

I was about to turn on the TV and relax for a bit when Katie came into the room holding a bowl of chips. She came over and snatched the remote from my hand.

"Hey!" I protested, trying to reach for it, but only succeeded in earning myself a rough shove from her.

"Sorry, Maya, I was here first." She said, flopping herself onto the recliner, smirking at me as she turned it on.

"C'mon, Katie, I've had a long day," I pleaded with her. I know somewhere, under all that jaded exterior, was my older sister who had an ounce of sympathy for her sweet baby sister.

"Oh yeah, I heard all about your new best friend chanting about your love for our house guest." She said with a smirk. "I'm a bit hurt, May-May, you'd tell a complete stranger about your undying love and devotion to Cammie Saunders before telling your own big sister. I can't help but be offended by that."

Who was I kidding? Even before the jaded days, Katie's favorite pastime has been and always will be tormenting me. Nothing can make Katie happier than seeing me miserable, and it's like an added bonus to her if she's the cause of it.

"I – don't – like – him!" I shrieked, stomping my foot, which probably looked silly since I was sitting down.

"Sure you don't, Maya." She said with a wink.

"I don't!"

"Of course not," Katie shock her head.

"Katie!"

Katie only snickered and flipped through the channels.

I crossed my arms angrily over my chest.

"Maya and Cammie sitting in a tree," she began to sing quietly.

"Stop it," I snapped, my face burning.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G," she continued, a grin spread widely across her face.

"Knock it off!"

"First comes love –"

"I mean it, if you don't stop it," I warned.

"Then come's marriage."

"I will seriously punch you, Katie. I mean it. If you don't stop it, I will do it."

"Then comes little May-May in a –"

But she didn't get to finish. I leaped from the couch and attempted to tackle her, but she was faster and stronger than me. Damn her soccer obsession.

She pinned me to the floor.

"Maya loves Cammie," she cooed, pinching my cheek.

"I do not!"

"Do so!"

"Just shut up!"

"Admit it, Maya, admit you like him!" Katie sang, smiling widely.

"No, I won't! Get off me!"

Katie laughed. "You are such a stick in the mud, Maya."

"Says you," I retorted.

She smirked. "Admit you like him."

"Admit you like who?" A boy's voice said from the door.

I tried to tilt my head back to see who it was, but I already knew from his voice. Cam was home. Oh god, if he heard everything –

I'd seriously die of embarrassment.

And I'm not even exaggerating.

My tombstone would literally say: Here lies Maya Matlin, the only girl in history to actually die from her own shame and humiliation, thanks to her own sister, and that weird Imogen Moreno girl.

"That Maya likes," Katie began, making me shut my eyes, trying not to cry from embarrassment and anger, "some weird guy on this show we watch. She is completely insane. I don't know why it bothers her so much… some people are so touchy about things like that. Right, Maya?"

I stared at Katie like it was the first time I ever saw her, and to be honest, it kind of was. In the fifteen years of being alive, Katie, my older sister, was helping me out. It was a creepy twilight zone moment that I would literally treasure for the rest of my life.

"Right," I agreed, sitting up as Katie got off of me. "I'm a weirdo like that."

"Oh," Cam nodded and then made his way up the stairs.

I turned to gawk at Katie.

"What?" She asked.

"You just helped me." I said, stunned.

"What's your point?" She asked, shrugging and sitting back in her chair.

"Just… thanks, Katie."

"Well don't get used to it."

"I probably won't." I promised.

"Good," Katie said, flipping through the channels.

I engulfed her into a big hug and she shoved me away.

"Hey! No touchy-feely crap, Maya."

"Love you, sis." I said, running to go upstairs.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Katie said.

Ah Katie, even when she's being nice she's still being her jaded ole self.

Surprisingly, I got to love her. You know, for now at least.

* * *

"Maya," someone whispered to me, shaking my shoulder lightly.

I groaned, bringing my comforter closer to my face. "Five more minutes," I mumbled sleepily.

"Maya, it's me, Cam. Wake up." He whispered.

"Hmm…" I said, pressing my face closer to my face to try and block out the lamp light. "Okay, Cam, just five more minutes."

Then my eyes snapped open, realizing that Cam was in my room, as I slept. I shot up into a sitting position faster than Regan McNeil from The Exorcist and faced him, my face already feeling warm.

I didn't even want to know what I looked like. I imagined my hair probably looked like a giant, frizzy bird's nest, and my face was all gross from sleeping. Sadly, I didn't wake up gorgeous like Tori probably did.

"Uh, morning," he said awkwardly, his face also a bright shade of red.

"I, uh, what are you doing here. Do you need something?" I asked, reaching for my glasses.

"Do you want to learn how to skate?" He asked with a hopeful smile across his face.

"Now?" I asked, looking over at my alarm clock, eyes widening as the bright green numbers let me know it was seven minutes past six. "It's six a.m. It's Saturday."

I turned to look at the window, noticing that the sunlight wasn't shining from behind the curtains.

"I know, it's a bit early," he began.

"Extremely early," I said.

"But the rink had an opening, and I thought… I'm sorry. I'm an idiot. Just go back to bed." Cam said, his face bright red as he looked down at my comforter.

"No," I cried, earning a wide eyed gaze from him. "I mean, you did go through all the trouble of checking for openings and getting up early, and you even took on the challenge of waking me up. I'd love to learn how to skate now."

He perked up a bit, but eyed me suspiciously. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, just let me shower and get ready. I'll meet you downstairs in ten minutes."

"Okay," he nodded, smiling his cute wide smile, making his way to the door and stopped, turning back to me, but shock his head and said nothing and left.

I flopped back against my pillows, grabbing my stuffed hippo and sighed. "Oh, Willoughby, what on earth have I gotten myself into this time? Me and ice skating? This is bound to be a disaster."

Oh well, the crazy things we do when we're in love, right?

* * *

"Ow," I groaned, once again falling hard onto my butt.

We'd been here for almost an hour, and all I had managed to do was go a few inches then flop onto my butt.

I honestly lost count of how many times I had fallen after it neared dangerously to ten. I knew I'd be sore for days, if not weeks because of this.

"Here," Cam said, holding out his hand to me.

"I'm hopeless," I said miserable, lying back on the ice, trying hard not to think of how much the cold hurt, and how the ice was probably dirty in some way.

"No you're not, Maya," he said, kneeling down beside me.

"I am, you're just too nice to say it. I suck."

"No, you're just… coordinately challenged."

"Exactly," I said sitting up, "coordinately challenged people can't skate."

"Says who?" He asked.

"The laws of gravity have been having a thing or two to say this whole time I've been attempting to learn."

"Here," he said, grabbing my hands and pulling me to a stand, righting me when I almost fell back. "Now," he said, still grasping my hands, "just move one skate forward and follow me."

I did as he said, and then, just like that, he was leading me around the rink.

I gave him a small, shy smile, feeling a blush creep onto my cheeks. I let my hair fall forward to hide my face and became suddenly interested in the ice and our skates.

"This is nice," I said quietly.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said shyly, look at him. "You're really sweet, teaching me to skate and all."

He was about to say something when someone began to clap.

"Well, well, well," a boy said, "look at what we have here, guys. Rookie found himself a girlfriend."

Both Cam and I turned red and broke eye contact to face the moment destroyer, and Cam dropped my hands as if they were on fire, making my heart sink down to my heels.

The Ice Hounds stood over at the side of the rink, some grinning, and the rest looking like they didn't really care.

I glared at them and turned back to face Cam, who was looking at them with disbelief.

"Uh, I should go home," I said, making a move to leave but lost my balance, making Cam attempt to save me, but the force of my fall, and the fact that I yanked his shoulder in an attempt to right myself, ended up with me crashing onto the ice with him across me.

I could hear his teammates breaking out into laughter, hooting away, as I felt like my back had been broken in half and that my stomach was being crushed by Cam's weight.

"Leave it for the bedroom, Rookie!" Someone rudely called out.

Cam immediately got up, grabbing my hand to help me stand.

"So, I'll just," I started.

"I'll help you," he said, making his way quickly to the exit of the rink.

"Thanks," I said, tugging a lock of hair behind my ear when he released my hand. "Uh, I'll see you home."

"Okay," he said nervously.

"Well… bye," I said, stepping onto the solid ground.

"Bye," he said.

"Bye," someone mimicked.

I glared at them, my face red, and made my way over to the bench as the Ice Hounds went onto the ice.

Katie was right, they were jerks. Big, moment destroying jerks!

Stupid hockey players!

Well, except for Cam, he could never be a stupid jerk like them.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Ah, Camaya fluff! So, thanks you guys for all your wonderful reviews, and to AgentSheryl for offering to help me, that's sweet of you, and don't worry I will need your help soon! Ah, so to all my beautiful readers, please review! Oh and hopefully more fluffy goodness soon.


	8. Chapter Eight: Check

**Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.**

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**Author's Note: **I keep on neglecting to update this story, I feel like a bad mama. Before I rant, let's take a moment to appreciate the scene in the promo where Maya goes "Hey" to Cam and trips. Okay, no that that's out of our system. So the Zaya-Camaya triangle, wow, I can't believe it's actually going to continue, and not because I am #TeamCamaya, (because a small part of me ships Zaya) but because Maya went back to Cam and I feel like this is dragging out something unnecessary, and I'm worried that it'll just isolate Zaya from the niners (and I'll be damned if I don't get my Maya/Tristan/Tori triage back!). I am still deeply upset and disappointed with Maya for letting Tori walk out of her life, because Tori is her best friend and I love and ship Mori so hard and thought Maya loved Tori's friendship more than that. Sigh. But if you see Zig acting like a douche and think it's a biased reaction for how he regretted nothing by cheating on Tori, it's not. It's kind of how I wanted to write Zig because there is only one way a ship I want to do and it can only happen if Zig is a total jerk, and I thought of it before the 12b aired. Okay, so let's get down to the nitty gritty, shall we?

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**Chapter Eight: Check**

"Pick a color!" Imogen said cheerfully, thrusting a cootie catcher under my nose that Wednesday at band practice. Imogen, Zig, Adam and I had been waiting nearly thirty minutes for Mo to show up, and all of us but Imogen were growing impatient.

I gave her a sour look, but knew she wouldn't give it up unless I gave in and went along with her nonsense. "Pink," I said grumpily.

"P-I-N-K," she spelt out in her irritably singsong voice, and once again she shoved the thing under my nose. "Pick a number."

"Two," I said, picking the shortest one to get it over with.

She giggled upon reading my fortune and read it aloud to me. "You will marry a hockey star."

"It doesn't say that!" I snapped at her, snatching it from her hand, almost tearing it in the process.

Surprisingly, it wasn't rigged.

"You will make out with Olivia Wilde?" I read. "Who's Olivia Wilde?"

"My best friend Fiona has a bit of a celebrity crush on her. I thought it would please her to get a fortune like that."

"Pants Johnny Depp?"

"Oh, that one's for me. It's kind of an odd dream I have."

"No kidding," I muttered, giving it back to her.

"It was your fate to get that fortune." She said knowingly, grinning smugly at me.

I narrowed my eyes. "It wasn't fate. You knew I'd pick two and you put it there."

"Cootie catchers never lie, Mini Mats." Imogen said in wise, all-knowing voice.

"Then you need to get out more." I snapped irritably, crossing my arms.

Talk of Cam made me even extra grumpy than usual these days. We had barely spoken more than a sentence at a time since the ice rink. Everything had become so unnecessarily awkward and I hated the Ice Hounds for it. Every time we crossed paths we'd mutter a hello and do a small chat on something stupid – the weather, class, French homework – and then go about our business.

We had never been chatty – we'd only been living with each other a week and a half, after all – but we had something nice going.

Tori claimed Cam was sending me mixed signals, being all nice and friendly with me one minute, and then being an awkward putz the next. It was no way to go about treating me.

Though Tristan, despite being a helpless romantic himself, made the increasingly annoying point that it wasn't really mixed signals if he was doing it to be friendly, in which Tori made the argument that no one teaches a girl to ice skate to be friendly. Especially go out of their way to teach one who has proven to be an incompetent ninny when it came to walking around without tripping over herself. Ah, Tori, got to love her.

Tori had been so enthralled by the romance of Cam teaching me how to skate, and then sulked on how Zig didn't do romantic gestures like that.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair, making it frizz out even more. I just needed things to go back to normal with Cam and I, then we'd date, fall madly in love, and get married and have ten children.

"Where's Mo?" Zig asked impatiently, slamming his chair back to all fours and glaring at the door.

"He said he had to talk to Coach Armstrong about his last math test," Adam sighed, looking up from his comic book, giving the clock a dejected stare. "Who knows how long that'll take. Armstrong goes on forever about grades."

I leaned back into my chair and closed my eyes, deciding to nap until Mo got there, then someone prodded my cheek.

"So how have things been with Cam?" Imogen questioned, giving me an expectant look.

My cheeks reddened as I saw Adam and Zig turn to us with interest.

"I told you," I sputtered angrily, "there's nothing going on."

"Really?" she asked her eyes wide with disbelief. "I heard a few of the guys teasing him about you and him skating together."

If it was possible, I went redder. Adam and Zig had scooted a bit closer and both looked amused by my situation, though Adam was more so than Zig, who looked a bit upset.

"They didn't see anything." I snapped.

"You two were skating in the dawn of the morning," Imogen said, relinquishing the details she had so Adam and Zig would be caught up. "Cam had to help Maya skate to the exit. It's so romantic."

"So I've heard," I grumbled.

"Aw, don't be such a grump, Maya." She said with a smile.

"Yeah, Maya," Adam teased, making kissy faces to me.

"I told you Cam was an idiot." Zig said to me with a knowing look.

I huffed. "Nothing is going on between us. We've barely spoken since then."

Imogen gasped. "But, you two are so adorable!"

I glared in response.

Even though Imogen annoyed me, and was probably going to put me in an early grave, I secretly liked her rooting for our (inexistent) relationship. It was nice to have more people rooting for me with the puck bunnies around.

Since Imogen's little show, they had gotten a bit of revenge on me. Notes stuffed into my locker with insults on them, the occasional attack of spitballs, and then the bimbos had written me off as his stalker, which was crazy considering I lived with him and the only stalking I did was walk by his door to go to the washroom.

With Tristan, Tori and her cheering me on, it was obvious Cam and I had to get together. We couldn't disappoint our adoring fans!

Suddenly, the door cracked against the door as Mo came in, wheezing as he collapsed into a desk. "Sorry I'm late. Armstrong needed to talk and he wouldn't let me leave."

"It's cool, man." Adam said, waving a dismissive hand. "I already told 'em."

"So… what did I miss?" He asked, looking around at us.

"Maya's in love with Cam," Adam said with a grin.

I stared at him in horror, and then shot glared at Imogen. This was why I hated people knowing things like this. Someone always finds out who has a big mouth and the next thing you know, everyone knows and is gossiping about it.

"Cam?" asked Mo with a confused expression, "Cam who?"

"You know," Zig said. "Campbell Saunders, the star Ice Hound."

"Oh," Mo said snapping his fingers. "You like _him_?"

"No, I don't!" I wailed, wanting them to stop. I felt like Katie right before she throws a fit.

"Yes she does!" Imogen said, nodding so hard I thought she was going to snap her neck in two.

"Hmm," Mo pondered, "I thought you were with Zig."

Zig and I looked at each other, then Mo with disbelieving looks.

"I'm dating someone," Zig said.

"Why would you think such a thing?"

"Hey," said Zig dejectedly, giving me a hurt look. "I'm not that bad."

I shrugged. "You're my best friend's boyfriend; I could never have feelings for you."

"Oh," Zig sighed, frowning.

"Huh," Mo said, "my bad."

I glared. "Enough about this rubbish," I said waspily. "Let's practice."

* * *

When I got home from practice, Cam was sitting on the floor of the living room doing homework on the coffee table. Hearing the door open, he looked up and his cheeks tinged red when we made eye contact. I felt my own checks redden and mumbled something about homework and was about to head up to my room when he asked me to wait.

"I know we haven't said much," he muttered, looking guiltily at me. "But I'm having trouble with the French assignment and I need help."

I felt my heart skip a few beats as I headed over to him, sitting down beside him and opening my bag to retrieve my own assignment and text book.

"I hate conjugating." He complained, scooting closer to me, making my neck incredibly warm.

"Yeah," I breathed, "me too."

"It's such a waste of time. Why not just have one word for everything?"

I nodded, and then thought about it. "Well, I suppose every language has a form of conjugation."

"Yeah, but I still hate learning it."

I agreed and smiled as I turned my book to the right page. He and I were both immature, if that didn't say we were kindred spirits, I didn't know what would.

We worked on the assignment, joking and laughing about the mispronunciation of French words, and practicing on our French accent, his much cheesier than mine. He drew a mustache on my upper lip, then one on his own as we discussed something about cheese and Paris until Katie came home in a grumpy mood.

She turned to us as she slammed the door shut and I thought for a split second she was going to suffocate us with the couch cushions, but instead she glared and said everything suck and stomped up the stairs.

Cam and I shared a look then laughed.

"You have a nice laugh," Cam said, a slight patch of red on his cheeks.

My ears and cheeks grew warm and I smiled. "Thanks. And so do you."

He grinned. "Maya, about the ice rink –"

"It's fine." I said offhandedly, which would have made Tori furious if she ever saw how passive of a remark I gave. She'd probably pull a Katie and suffocate me with the couch cushions. "It was nice. I actually enjoyed it… a lot."

"So did I," Cam said breathlessly.

"We'll have to do it again sometime, just, you know, not so early."

He laughed. "Yeah, we will."

We smiled at each other then went back to our homework.

Have I mentioned that I loved him? I have, okay, just wanted to clarify that I do.

* * *

Tori called me that night before dinner, asking me to go to the mall with her to get a new stash of makeup.

"Please, Maya, shopping with my mom isn't any fun, and we can go into that new store that opened! Who knows, you could update your wardrobe a bit."

"My wardrobe doesn't need updating." I said, but sighed. "I'll ask my mom and call you back."

I was surprised that my mom let me go. She was a bit strict with family dinners, especially since Cam was our guest.

"Go, you're young and deserve to have some fun." My mom said, handing me thirty dollars.

"Thanks, Mom!" I said, kissing her on the cheek and went to call Tori to tell her I could go.

* * *

The mall was crowded. Everyone moved in a heard to one store to the next, crowding around kiosks, and bumping into each other. One woman bumped into me, then glared and told me to watch where I was going.

I tried to keep up with Tori as she maneuvered her way through the throng of shoppers, bumping a few out of her way as she went.

"C'mon, Maya, quit gawking." Tori said, grabbing my hand and dragging me behind her as she made her way forcefully through the crowds.

I tried to keep pace, stumbling over my feet, as she made her way with purpose between couples holding hands, kids running to the old carousel, and even a group of old women with walkers. It was amazing to see how determined Tori got in the mall. It was a bit frightening at times, but very impressive.

She stopped at a store where the white, headless, and handless mannequins wore stylish tops and low riding jeans with fancy handbags. Things I could only afford if I pooled Katie's and my allowance from the beginning of time.

"Try this on," Tori said, thrusting a soft, silky pink shirt into my hands that had one sleeve. I frowned, looking at the tag and nearly choked. My mom would run me down with her wheelchair if I bought a one sleeved shirt for that much money. She'd probably use the one sleeve to strangle me.

"Maya, try it on." Tori said, moving hangers furiously, barely observing the tops as she hunted for a purchase.

She was like a lioness hunting a gazelle when she shops, I swear. She just gets so focused and determined to find fashion, that she'd literally take anyone down who dared to stand in her way.

I went into the fitting room and placed the shirt on. It looked as stupid as it felt. It made me look like a straight line, and having no sleeve on my left arm bothered me.

"How does it look?" Tori asked, knocking on the door.

"Ridiculous." I called to her, making a move to take it off.

"Come out here and let me decide that." She said. I could practically hear her rolling her eyes at me.

"How about you let me decide?"

"Because you have horrible taste," she said easily. "Now open the door before I crawl underneath it."

"You won't," I said, only half believing that. It wouldn't surprise me if she jumped over the door to catch a peek of me in this ugly top.

"Want to bet?"

I sighed and unlocked the door, pulling it back to see Tori frown at me.

"Hmm," she said, her eyebrow raised, as if she was trying to figure out some hard algebra problem.

"See," I said, drawing the word out more than needed. "I told you it was stupid, now I'm going to put my shirt back on and take this thing off."

"Wait," Tori said before I could shut the door. "Wait there!"

She ran back into the store where I couldn't see her and I sighed. I didn't want to be Tori's Barbie, I just wanted to watch her shop and maybe get something for myself.

Tori came back with a smile across her face and thrusted a black bra into my hands. I looked between her and the bra for a second, feeling like I missed an important line to this joke.

"It's a padded bra," Tori said simply, as if those four words explained everything.

"I see," I said, "and you are giving me this because…?"

"To give you a figure," Tori said with an encouraging smile.

"What?" I asked, feeling confused and a bit embarrassed. I had a figure. An underdeveloped one, but it was there nonetheless.

"Maya, I'm not saying this to be mean, but you're a bit," she said gesturing around her chest wildly. "You know… flat."

I felt my cheeks redden, and I dropped her gaze, trying to look anywhere but her or the bra. "Oh… yeah"

"Yeah," she said awkwardly, her cheeks reddening a bit as she looked down at the linoleum to avoid eye contact. "But Maya you have a great body, this," she said pointing to the bra and looking back up at me with a shade of guilty red on her cheeks, "would only help what you have."

"Isn't that going to give people the wrong impression? I'm more of a "what you see is what you get" type of girl." I said, trying to make a joke out of this. But in all reality I didn't want to wear this because it'd make me feel pathetic.

"C'mon, lots of girls wear padded bras." Tori said, as if that should make this okay.

"I bet, but why do I have too?"

"You don't, but it'd be nice to have, right? You may want it one day."

"I might want a padded bra one day? Why?"

"I don't know why, you just will! Now try it on."

I sighed, resisting an aggravated groan. "Fine, but I won't enjoy it!"

"I'm okay with that, now go!" Tori said, shoving into the dressing room and shutting the door.

I looked at the bra, then at my reflection and sighed. I took off my shirt to reveal my sports bra and hesitating for a second, I pulled it off and looked at my chest and frowned.

"Is it on yet?" Tori asked, knocking on the door.

I jumped, and glanced at the door feeling panicked.

"Maya, are you still there?" Tori called. "Hello?"

"Yeah, just a sec. Don't you dare crawl under this door!" I called back to her as I put the bra and shirt on, opening the door.

"Oh my god," Tori sighed, a smile lighting her face. "Maya, you look amazing!"

I felt my face heat at that. Does this mean I usually don't? Between my hair and my chest it wasn't hard to figure out why I haven't had a boyfriend yet. And it wasn't hard to figure out why Zig had gone to Tori when Tori dragged me to a mirror to look at her genius idea. Tori was gorgeous. She had the beautiful hair, the body, the style. I, on the other hand, had frizzy hair, a flat chest, and a style of a tomboy six year old. Even seeing myself in the full-length mirror with my fake chest I looked like hideous a hideous compared to her.

"It's nice," I lied, turning away from the mirror.

"And you're getting it." Tori said. "Show Cam what he's missing if he doesn't get his act together."

I sighed, looking at my reflection.

"You know you want to get it!" She said in a singsong voice.

I rolled my eyes. "Stop that."

"You know you do." She continued.

I kept looking at the two bumps and sighed. "Oh, fine."

"Yes!" Tori said, clapping her hands, reminding me of Imogen for a moment and I shuddered, glancing around in a panic in case she was hiding behind a dressing room door waiting to do another chorus of "you like him" at the top of her lungs.

"Yeah, yeah," I sighed, going back into the dressing room to change into my normal clothes with a frown.

* * *

I stepped out of the shower that night, and instead of drying off and changing into my pajamas, I walked over to the mirror and observed my chest.

Yes, I was flat. Extremely flat. I'd always noticed it, but for some reason it seemed like a bigger deal than before, and I blamed that stupid padded bra.

I prodded my finger into my small bump of a breast and sighed. It was like puberty decided it was never going to set in by the practically flat terrain of my chest. I was fifteen years old; I should have had at least an upgrade from a 28 AA by now.

It was also pretty sad to have your best friend point out, and try to help you out with something like this. Especially when you consider Tori is gorgeous and fully developed everywhere.

She was the big kid mountain bike and I was the plastic Little Tykes tricycle; underdeveloped and childlike.

Infuriated by my newfound comparison, I turned myself sideways to see the two tiny bumps that were barely noticeable when facing the mirror and sighed angrily.

"Maybe you're right, Tor," I sighed quietly to myself, thinking about how she said the padded bra would help with what I had, and seeing what I had, I needed a lot of help.

I kept looking at myself in the mirror, so engrossed in my observation of having no chest, that I didn't see or hear the handle on the door move, and when the door nearly hit me in the face once it open I turned to come face-to-face with a wide eyed, red face Campbell Saunders.


	9. Chapter Nine: Avoidance

**Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.**

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Avoidance**

I lay in my bed, hugging Willoughby tightly as the sun poked its way through my curtains. Any minute my alarm would go off and I'd be expected to get out of bed and go about my day as if nothing had happened.

After Cam had seen my completely naked and the initial shock wore off, he'd turned around and sprinted back to his room and shut the door and hadn't come out since. I had stood there, clutching my towel that I grabbed from the rack the moment I realized he was looking at me, and ran to my room with my head down in shame and cried into my pillow for a few hours then crawled into a pair of pajamas and had a night of tossing and turning and the occasional cry.

I don't think anything could ever top this. And if anything could, I could only pray that it wouldn't happen to me.

It was funny, though. Just yesterday afternoon we were joking around and doing French homework, getting over that awkward bump from the ice rink, and now this.

It was all my stupid fault! If I hadn't been so stupid to forget to lock the bathroom door, none of this would have happened. Now because of my forgetfulness I could never face Cam again and I would be a prisoner in my room!

I wondered if I actually could skip meals and use my window as a way of getting to and from my house until Cam moved out. I mean, my parents would have to understand why I could never go near him again, and if they didn't, then they didn't know embarrassment or suffering.

My alarm went off next to me, and with a sad sigh I rolled over and turned it off. I tossed my covers aside and walked over to my dresser and opened it, giving a withering glance at the bag that held the padded bra I could never wear. If I wore that thing now, Cam would know I was a fraud. He now knew exactly how underdeveloped I was now, and it would be incredibly suspicious to exit my room with two bumps under my shirt. Stupid waste of money thing! I didn't even want it to begin with.

Getting dressed hurriedly, I pulled my hair into a messy ponytail, having no patience for its nonsense today, and tiptoed to my door. Putting my ear to the wood I didn't hear anyone out in the hall so I took it as an all clear.

Grabbing my bag from my desk chair, I walked out of my room, easing the door shut behind me to not alert Cam of my departure if he by any chance was in his room, and turned to see him leaving his room too.

I stood there, frozen in horror upon seeing him, and he was mirroring my look.

"Uh –" He said, looking away, red-faced.

I wanted to flee, run down the stairs and out the door, never to return, but my legs had become stiff and didn't allow me to do that.

Katie choose that moment to exit her room, ipod in hand and tossed us an angry look. "What are you two gawking at? C'mon, or we'll be late!"

She stomped down the stairs, screaming another "move!" at us.

I scrambled after her, not even bothering to wait for Cam. Any excuse to get away from him was one I'd take.

"Katie, I don't know…" my mother was saying when I got into the kitchen. Katie was in pre-meltdown mode, and my mother looked hesitant.

"C'mon, Mom, you promised!" She wailed, stamping her foot for good measure.

"I know, but," she sighed, and then nodded. "Fine, but drive carefully. No road rage. No speeding. Do we have a deal?"

"Yes," Katie said, snatching the keys from the counter before mom could come to her senses and change her mind.

"You're driving us?" I asked in horror.

"Yep, here," she tossed me some toast and shouldered her bag and looked around. "Cam, get down here _now!_"

I watched as Katie left the kitchen, shoving a piece of toast into her mouth, and then gawked at my mother who shrugged.

"I promised her."

My mother clearly had lost her mind. Or become a pod person. My mother would have never in a million years let Katie drive. She had road rage, which shocked no one considering the girl would tear apart children who looked at her funny.

I guess if I died this morning I would never have to face Cam ever again. That had to be a bright side, even if it was a bit morbid.

* * *

I felt sick when Katie finally pulled into a parking spot. I sat there for a moment as Katie barked at me to move so she could lock the doors.

I crawled out, feeling tipsy, and someone steadied me.

"Thanks," I mumbled awkwardly to Cam, not looking at him as my cheeks heated.

"No problem," he said weakly.

I steadied myself and rushed across the street, almost getting hit by a car in which the driver called me insane and to watch where I was going.

I got to my locker flushed, wheezing a bit from the cardio overload, and proceeded to open my locker when Tristan and Tori waltz up to me chatting about the tragedy of something they liked going out of style.

"I read it in Vogue," Tristan was saying grimly, a look of devastation on his face. I seriously thought he was going to break down and cry.

"But it can't be!" Tori wailed. "I just got mine a month ago! That jacket has to be in!"

"Well according to Vogue it's out. Last year's trend, tomorrow's donation."

"This is so inconveniencing! Now I have nothing to wear to my Dad's boss's party this weekend."

It's nice how my two best friends can have this lovely conversation like I'm not even here. But I wasn't all that bothered, considering how my algebra book was currently AWOL and my head was stuck inside of my locker, digging through the amount of junk I had accumulated while owning this locker.

"Hey Maya," Tori finally greeted me, once the chat of some jacket going out of style became too depressing to speak of anymore. "What's up?"

"Just digging for my math book… I cannot believe all this stuff I have. This quiz," I said, holding up a wrinkled, almost unreadable piece of paper with a seventy-seven written in red ink at the top, "is trash! That homework assignment is trash! This," I held up a red cardigan, "isn't even mine."

"Oh, no, it's mine," Tori said, taking it. "I forgot I asked you to put it in your locker that day of the pep rally."

"Well a majority of this stuff is junk," I said, grabbing an armload and walking towards the trashcan.

"She's purging," Tristan whispered to Tori.

"I wonder what's wrong," Tori whispered back.

"Nothing's wrong," I said haughtily, turning to them in a huff. "Why do you assume something is wrong because I'm throwing away junk that should have been tossed a long time ago?"

"Because, Maya, when something's wrong most people tend to spring clean," Tristan said.

Tori nodded gently, touching my arm. "So what happened?"

"Nothing happened. Well, there was a near-death experience this morning because Katie drove, but besides that nothing." I said, rummaging through my locker.

"Hmm," Tristan said, "so you're positive? Nothing's wrong?"

"Not that I know of," I lied, grabbing my book and shutting my locker. Apparently I couldn't clean it anymore, even if it was a sty.

"Okay then," he said, but he didn't seem to believe me.

I gave a haughty sigh. "I have algebra, see you both in French."

They nodded and gave each other identical worried looks and trudged off down the corridor, Tori turning back to give me another worried look.

Sighing again, I hugged my textbook to my chest and tried not to think about how flat it was, or that Cam had seen it.

* * *

When I walked into French, Tori and Tristan immediately stopped their conversation. Sighing heavily, I took my normal seat.

"Hey," they both greeted awkwardly.

I nodded uneasily to them, opening my bag to take out my textbook so I wouldn't have to look at them or start a conversation.

"So…" Tristan said, looking around for something to talk about.

"Uh, I got a really good movie for us to watch at my place Friday!" Tori said conversationally.

"That's good," I nodded. "What is it?"

"Mean Girls," she said.

I groaned, "Again? But we've already watched it four Friday's now! We need to mix it up a bit."

"But it's a classic!" She protested.

"It's getting old," I retorted.

Tristan gasped, holding a hand to his heart. "I cannot believe she just said something so blasphemous!"

"Mean Girls," Tori said in a hushed voice, "never gets old."

"Well it has for me. Pick another movie."

"Ugh! Fine!" she said snippily.

Cam walked in, and upon seeing me, hesitated taking his normal seat.

This wasn't anything new, considering that the past three days had consisted in awkwardly sitting together in a group, but now the awkward tension felt different.

"Uh, hi," he muttered.

"Hi," I said squeakily.

"Hi," Tori said, giving him a puzzling look.

"Hi," Tristan said, looking between me and him.

"So, what do you want to watch?" Tori asked, trying to get back to our former conversation.

"What?" I asked her dazed.

"What movie do you want to watch?"

"Oh, whatever's fine."

"Huh?" Tristan said.

"So we can watch Mean Girl's again?" She tested.

"Yeah, sure, fine, whatever," I said, not listening, but focused on the scuff marks on my sneakers, feeling the warm flush of my cheeks, neck, and ears.

"Oh for crying out loud!" cried Tori dramatically. "What's wrong now?"

"What?" I asked, looking up at her.

"You and him," she said, waving her hand between me and Cam like a madwoman. "What happened?"

"Nothing!" the both of us said at the same time and looked away in embarrassment.

"Right," Tori said with an unamused look.

"Well, how about those verb conjugations?" Tristan said in an attempt to change the subject. "I am having a lot of trouble with past tense, and –"

* * *

The class passed on, and the awkward silence between me and Cam was almost become suffocating. Our hands accidentally brushed against each other when we both reached for something and I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

When the bell finally rang, he grabbed his bag and ran out of the room.

"Okay, spill." Tristan demanded as we left the classroom. "What happened?"

"Nothing happened," I lied, squeaking a bit and my face reddened as I looked at the floor, once again finding interest in my scuffed sneakers.

Never had the cafeteria seemed so far away.

"Something is definitely wrong, Maya Matlin, now spill it." She demanded, stepping in front of me so I came to a stop, making a show of putting both of her hands on her hips and giving me a stern, no-nonsense glare. It was a bit intimidating to say the least.

"Something happen with you and him? Now, c'mon, spit it out." Tristan said, waving his hand impatiently.

"No," I said threw gritted teeth, looking around the near-emptied hallway, relieved to see no one staring at us. "Nothing happened at all."

"Please, it's been awkward these past few days, but nothing like this. I thought you both were going to wet yourselves when you accidentally touched each other." Tori snapped impatiently.

I sighed, feeling frustrated as a headache formed. These two meant well, but they were going to give me a heart problem soon if they didn't stop questioning about Cam in school, or when I clearly didn't want to discuss him. It was bad enough that I had Imogen Moreno singing about our love at the top of her lungs every time she saw me, but my two best friends? That was far too much for me to handle, especially before my lunch.

"C'mon, Maya, you can tell us." Tristan said gently, giving me a puppy dog face.

No fair! He was trying to manipulate this out of me!

I gave a grumpy sigh, turning from him so he couldn't manipulate me with his sad eyes, and crossed my arms. "There is nothing to spill," I said stubbornly, turning my chin up at them in some great act of defiance.

They both rolled their eyes and faced each other with a nod.

"Okay, Maya," Tori said with a sigh, as she dragged me into an empty classroom, Tristan following. "You leave us with no other choice."

"If you won't tell us what happened," Tristan said with a shake of his head, shutting the door eerily. "There's no other way."

Besides the fact that they were both acting creepy, dragging me into an abandoned classroom, I had no idea about what on earth they were talking about?

That's the problem with having your two best friends being best friends before you for such a long time, they talk in code and expect you to follow it, even though in reality you sit there like a moron, all confused and annoyed, trying to guess what the hell they're talking about.

But I didn't have time to dwell on what they meant, because suddenly they both were tickling me.

Damn them and their code.

"Guys," I said between my fit of giggles, trying to get away from them as I twitched into a heap on the floor. "Guys, s-stop, please!" with a laugh I cried out, "I surrender! I'll tell you everything!"

The tickling thankfully stopped before they managed to make me wet my pants. If that had happened, I think I would have killed them for it. My life wasn't embarrassing enough without me wetting myself to add to the pain.

"Alright," Tori said breathlessly, shoving her curls out of her face impatiently, "spill."

I sighed, curling my legs to my chin as I sat up on the floor, Tristan and Tori sitting across from me eagerly awaiting for me to tell them, as if I were about to tell them some deep, meaningful secret, or a great story. I sighed, looking at my nails that I had bitten to stubs, trying to guess where to start.

"Cam…" I sighed, feeling my cheeks burn. "He saw me naked."

There was a long, awkward silence between us as Tori and Tristan gaped at me in disbelief, then Tristan cracked.

"What?" he nearly hollered in disbelief, his blue eyes wide and mouth open.

"How did that happen?" Tori asked stupidly, and then gasped, covering her mouth in complete shock. "Oh my god, did you two, you know?"

"What?" I asked confused as to what she meant.

"You know," Tristan said, raising his eyebrows. "Do _it_."

"No, of course we didn't!" I said indignantly, feeling my entire face go red.

"Well then how did he see you naked?" Tori asked.

"Because," I started, feeling my cheeks burn angrily, thinking back to the dressing room, "This whole thing happened because of you! It was all your fault!" I seethed, pointing a finger at Tori, feeling a sudden burst of anger at my best friend.

I wasn't lying. Tori had brought up my flat chest and at the time I was examining the flatness of it, so in turn, this whole this happened because of Tori!

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tori cried out, shoving my finger away from her face.

"Yeah, Maya, I don't see how any of this can be Tori's fault."

"Well," I sputtered, "it is her fault. Because of her reminding me of my stupid problem I had to be looking in the mirror and he walked in on me!"

"Oh my god!" she cried in response, throwing her hands up in the air and rolling her eyes. "I was trying to help you!"

"You're the reason that I now have to hide in my own house!" I accused, crossing my arms.

"It's not my fault, I was being helpful!" Tori snapped, crossing her arms and jutting out her chin.

"Wait a second," Tristan said, throwing his hands in between us. "What the hell are you two going on about?"

Tori and I exploded. You couldn't even hear a coherent sentence as we both started about the dressing room and the bra. Tristan waved his hands.

"Oh my god, one at a time!" he said, clamping his hands over our mouths. "Now, Maya what happened?"

He released his hand from my mouth and I began about how Tori and I went shopping all the way to last night in the bathroom.

"See," I said once I was done, "it's her fault!"

"It's not my fault that you didn't lock the bathroom door."

"That's beside the point!"

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is!"

"Not!"

"Is!"

"Stop it!" Tristan screamed. "Now, Maya, I guess in some way this can all be Tori's fault, but she's right, you should have locked the door."

Tori stuck her tongue out at me and I gave her a withering stare.

"And Tori, you should be sensitive to Maya, considering," he said, looking narrowly at her.

I stuck my tongue out at Tori.

She sighed giving me a grumpy look. "Fine," she said drawing out the word in another sigh. "Sorry, M, can you forgive me?"

"Course I can," I said smiling, "especially with an apology as sincere as that."

She made a face, and then shoved my shoulder, sticking her tongue out at me. She's so immature sometimes.

I flicked her nose and stood up and getting out her reach.

"Now then, let's get some lunch before we have to be late for class." Tristan said pointedly.

"Okay, pops," Tori said, patting his head as she stood up.

Tristan made a face at her as he followed her out of the classroom to make sure she didn't run after me.

I sighed; shouldering my bag I followed them out.

* * *

"So what do you plan to do?" Tori asked suddenly as we ate our lunch.

"About what?" I asked, shoving a handful of fries into my mouth, which made her grimace.

Sighing, she gave a pointed look to my fries then to me. "About you-know-who seeing you _naked_," she said, whispering the last word.

My eyebrows shot up. Do? There was nothing I could exactly "do", I mean I lacked the technology to erase his memory, and murdering him was simply out of the question considering the fact he was my soul mate, so I was stuck between a rock and a hard place on the subject.

Tori, on the other hand, didn't see it that way. She pulled out a notebook and pen, and waited for suggestions from either me or Tristan.

Tristan, taking a fry from my plate and said, "She could trick him into making him think it was a dream. You know, play it cool and act like it never happened. Confuse him."

Tori pondered it for a moment then nodded and jotted it down, turning to me expectantly.

I contorted my face to make myself look pensive, munching slowly on a fry. There was only one logical solution to my predicament: Flee the country. I could change my name, chop all my hair off, and live in the wilderness of Maine as the missing link! But I doubted Tori would see it that way. She'd probably think I was kidding or something.

"Well…" I said, "I could build a time machine, go back in time, and actually lock the bathroom door!"

"Okay…" Tori said, "A backup plan is always good."

"It's hopeless," I wailed. "I can never go near Cam again. This whole thing ruined everything."

"Aw, Maya, don't be so cynical." Tristan said, patting my hand.

"If being cynical means being a realist, then fine, I'm a cynic!" I said haughtily, pulling my hand away.

"But, Maya," Tori said, "Tris's idea was pretty good. All you'd have to do is play it cool."

"I don't know the meaning of the word!" I snarled.

Tristan snorted, and then turned his head away from me, stuffing another fry into his mouth.

Tori gave me a sympathetic look and sighed. "Okay, but it's always good to have options."

I sighed, shifting myself in my chair so I wouldn't have a view of the Ice Hound table.

Cam was sitting there, eating his burger, as the guys laughed, and shoving each other every now and then. Cam fit right into that scene, but at the same time he didn't. His laughter and grinning when someone shoved him or got shoved seemed a bit force, and as if he knew someone was watching him, he turned and our eyes caught. For a split second we just looked at each other. No blushing, no embarrassing "uh's" and "um's" just us looking into one another's eyes. It was quite romantic. That is, until we both snapped back to reality and turned away with red cheeks.

Tristan and Tori nodded cheerfully, but said nothing about what they had obviously seen to my relief. Now I could pretend that that moment was mine and his alone. No explanations, no reasoning as to why we had such an intimate moment. Just me and him, and our understanding of what just happened, even though I didn't really understand why or how it happened, and I doubt he did either.

I smiled to myself, taking another fry and replaying that moment over and over again as Tristan and Tori went into a discussion of a sale that was happening at the mall over the weekend.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Awkward and intimate Camaya, how I love thee! So, how about the Tristan/Tori/Maya triage? I always loved how Maya kind of fit in perfectly into their best friendship, but as we all know, best friends who were best friends before they knew you can get awkward. Inside jokes you don't know about. Secret codes. All the beautiful things we love that add to Maya's tragic life. And to answer_ Popcorn0912's_ question, yes, Maya Matlin was a hundred percent naked. Cam has seen it all! Talk about awkward… Thank you to all who have reviewed/favored/followed/read because you're all amazing! And I love how all of you love dragged out, awkward as hell, AU Camaya. You guys deserve cookies or statues, something, anything! Ah well, I'll think of something by the next chapter that'll rock your socks (just please don't expect it as fast as this one! I was living life without internet and other distractions and was bored!)


	10. Chapter Ten: Impulse

**Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.**

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**Author's Note: **These past few chapters have been flying out so quickly that I feel really bad when they inevitably come at a slower pace. I've had so much free time lately, and with the lack of internet at my new house, and the lack of a social life during winter break, I've been able to let my plot bunnies hop freely, and of course update my stories. I know chapter eleven is most likely on its way, but as I said in the last chapter, please don't expect a speedy update, even if it is speedy! I don't want anyone disappointed in me when my classes restart and I have to focus more on school work than this story. Enjoy the chapter; it's the longest one I've written so far and it's full of good things I'm sure you all will love! Cheers, all!

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Impulse**

I sat on the window seat, reading the book Dawes had assigned, sipping tea and eating cookies. It was a nice kick-back Sunday. Katie was out doing a school project at the library, which she proceeded to moan about the whole time getting ready, though never revealing the name of a project partner – not that I cared any. To me, a Katie-free day was a gift from above, and any poor soul who had to take her wasn't getting a lick of sympathy from me. Cam, on the other hand, had run out quickly after breakfast, telling my mom something about practice, saying that he'd be there most of the day.

Yes, this was exactly the perfect day.

So of course it had to be ruined.

I saw her coming up the walk way, her ridiculous pigtails and plaid coat making her easily recognizable from the far distance. I immediately began grabbing my stuff as the doorbell rang, trying to make a quick getaway.

"Maya," my mother called to me, "can you get that?"

I nearly cursed at my bad luck. Just one day, that's all I ask. One day free from my bad luck.

Sighing, I put the things in my hands down and trudged to the door, opening it as she rang the bell again.

"Mini Mats!" She squealed happily, pulling me into a big hug, as if she hadn't seen me in ages. "I have found it! I have found the answers to all your problems!" She said, letting herself inside before I could protest.

"Uh, what are you talking about? And more importantly, how did you know where I live?" I asked her as she plopped down onto my sofa.

"Phonebook, there was only two listings with the last name Matlin. The first house I went to wasn't very pleased at me disturbing them." She shrugged, unabashed by it in the least. "And to answer your other question," she pulled something from her bag and shoved them into my hand.

I looked down at it, nearly choking. "Imogen, how –"

"Bianca knows a guy. He's pretty black market, and his prices are decent. Those are good seats too, or so he says, so I don't know how accurate that is."

I gaped at her, my mouth wide open. I was completely speechless. "Imogen, I – wow, I – thank you." I said lamely, feeling a bit taken aback.

In my hand were tickets to a hockey game. It would be the prefect thing to get Cam, that is, if we were talking.

There had been nothing said between us, and besides that one intimate look we shared in the cafeteria, we hadn't made eye contact either.

Meals were extremely awkward. We had to sit across from each other as we ate, trying to avoid each other completely, and making small talk with my parents and Katie, which isn't very easy.

Then there were the questions: "What's wrong?" "Why aren't you and Cam talking?" "Did you two get into a fight?"

I wasn't about to blab anything about the whole bathroom incident to my parents, and I was pretty sure he wasn't either, so I made something up about my being shy around him, which my mother blew off by saying I'd need to get used to him because he was going to be living with us for a while. Like I didn't already know that, I was counting down the days were my misery would end. And the day he'd move out, Katie would be spending the summer at home and then college. Life would be good, that I was sure of.

"It's not a problem," she said, smiling widely. "I think it'd be a nice date for you two. I'd have sprung for something else, but I didn't know the types of music you both like. Desmond had some nice concert tickets, but most were underground bands."

"Oh," was all I said, looking at the tickets with a sad frown. "I can't accept these."

"I insist you take them," Imogen said with a wave of her hand, making her bracelets jingle.

"No, I really can't," I said, shoving them into her hands, feeling the sudden urge to burst into tears.

"But, Mini Mats –"

"Look, I appreciate it. Really, I do. But I can't – we can't –" I felt the tears well in my eyes; a few slipping past my restraints, and Imogen's smile faded and was replaced by a look of concern.

"Mini Mats, did I do something wrong?" She asked quietly, patting my shoulder in a comforting manner. "What happened?"

"It's – I don't want to really talk about it." I sniffed pathetically, wiping my cheeks. "Cam and I just can't go."

"But you and him are meant to be! I know the puck bunnies have been a bit hard on you lately – that stalker rumor is the dumbest thing to ever be told in the hallways of that school, and trust me, that's saying a lot."

"No, it's not that." I said, shaking my head and biting my lip.

"Then what?" she asked, then she looked at me with a sympathetic pout. "Did something happen with you and Puppy Soup?"

I sighed, nodding my head. "And it was bad. I don't think he's ever going to talk to me again. I know for sure that I can never talk to him, and if we didn't live together, I wouldn't show my face around him either."

"Oh this is terrible!" Imogen said miserably, pulling me into another bone-crushing embrace. "What happened? Maybe I can help you fix it! You two cannot be ships passing in the night, I won't allow it! No surrey, Mini Mats, you and Puppy Soup will not be star-crossed lovers. Not on my watch!"

"Imogen," I wheezed, feeling my ribs crack, but her embrace didn't loosen as she went on about how we were fated to be marry, have five kids and a dog (named after Cam, of course!), and how she would make sure it happened, even if she'd have to force him in to it herself.

"Now," she said, finally releasing her vice grip on me, "tell me everything that happened."

I hesitated for a moment. I mean, really, was I actually going to tell Imogen Moreno, a girl who reinvented the word "clinically insane", what had happened to me? I mean was I really going to stoop so low as to go to her for advice on the matter? If I wanted advice from a mental person all I'd have to do was ask Katie, but it would end with her constantly mocking me and telling the entire world until my dying breath. I couldn't exactly tell my parents – my dad would go ballistic and probably give the poor boy a vasectomy, and my mom… well I don't even want to know what she'd do. So yes, I had become the pathetic person to seek advice from a crazy girl.

I told Imogen everything and she had sat quietly, interjecting with the correct noises and making the right expressions, and by the end of the story she only shook her head sadly.

"Oh bother," she whispered grimly, "this is quite a predicament."

I collapsed back into the couch cushion with a pitiful groan. "Yes, it is, isn't it? It's just my luck too."

Imogen patted my knee. "There has to be something we can do to mend this, right? I mean, c'mon, Romeo and Juliet were from warring families and ended up together, not counting their suicides, of course. You and Cam are a much better love story than Romeo and Juliet, you have to end up together, alive and happy, get married and live happily ever after. You and Cam have to be Noah and Allie!"

"Yeah, well the only time Noah saw Allie naked was when she was fully developed and ready to have sex, not in a freak incident of her forgetting to lock the bathroom door."

"Well either way, you two are Noah and Allie, and Noah and Allie had a happy ever after!"

"They died in each other's arms! How exactly is that happy?"

"It is for morbid people!" She argued, shaking her head. "And the book ended it differently, and it's much sadder, so you two better have the movie ending!"

"Planning deaths aside, Cam and I are never going to happen. We'll never get pass this, Imogen. There's no way too."

"Well when you hit a dead end, make a door." She said simply, curling her legs under her.

I sighed, placing my chin onto my knees. "I'm horrible at construction."

Imogen clucked her tongue. "No one likes a pessimist."

"Maya," my mother said, coming out from the kitchen. "Who was at the door?"

"Mom," I said, standing up, Imogen mirroring my action, giving my mother her signature wide, toothy grin. "This is Imogen, a band mate."

"Oh, it's nice to meet you," my mother said, wheeling closer to shake her hand. "Sorry I didn't come out sooner, was paying a few bills. Are you staying for dinner?"

"No problem, Mrs. M, and sure, I'd love to stay, I'd just have to let my mom know."

"Of course," my mother said, smiling. "Well, I'll get started on that. What time did Cam and Katie say they'd be back?"

"Uh, I'm not sure. Cam said he'd have late practice and Katie… well she just said she was meeting her project partner at the library."

"Right," my mother said tersely, frowning. "I wish you kids wouldn't be so vague with where you're going."

"Sorry," I said.

My mother waved it off. "I'm going to get started; you girls just enjoy yourselves out here. Would you like anything to drink, or something to snack on?"

"No thank you," Imogen said politely. "Do you need any help with dinner?"

Her mother smiled. "No, but thank you for offering," then she turned to me, "please invite this girl over more often. Maybe she could teach you and Katie a thing or two about helpfulness."

I gave her a tight grin. "Will do, Mom," I said with an eye roll, sinking back down into the sofa.

* * *

Imogen and I sat, watching TV in a comfortable silence when the front door opened, smacking against the wall, and slamming.

Katie had marched in, muttering loudly to herself, and was about to stomp up the stairs when she paused, eyes widening as she saw Imogen. Gripping on the railing till her knuckles were chalk-white, and finally snapped, "What are you doing here?"

Imogen, who had sat there looking at Katie in horror, blinked, cleared her throat and said, "I'm visiting Min- Maya."

The cheerful Imogen that had become the bane of my existence was instantly replaced with a timid, daresay, normal girl. Katie's presence had changed the girl's demeanor entirely, and I wasn't sure I liked that.

"Oh really," Katie said, raising an eyebrow with a mocking look on her face. "And why would you, a senior, waste your time hanging around a freshman? Don't you have friends your own age?" The way Katie had said it made it very clear she knew the answer, and by the sound of Katie's mockery, I was guessing the answer was a no, which made me feel sorry for Imogen.

Imogen's cheeks heated up. "Yes," she said angrily. "And if you must know, Maya and I are in a band together. Hanging out comes with band territory!"

Oh, Imogen, you are just giving Katie ammunition. Stop while you are ahead!

"Oh really, well isn't that nice?" She mocked, smirking at Imogen. "Where's the rest of the band? Are they all too busy living their lives with actual friends?" She asked in mock horror, covering her mouth. Then without waiting for Imogen's answers, cackled and made her way upstairs, leaving Imogen open-mouthed beside me.

I turned to her, giving her an apologetic smile. "Don't mind Katie, she's a bitter girl. Being a bitch and a half comes with the territory."

"Yes," Imogen said through gritted teeth, cheeks still tinged red. "I guess it does."

I patted her leg. "If it makes you feel any better, Katie's only friend is Marisol. That one ought to cheer you up for days. You're better off with little or no friends, than a Marisol." I said wisely.

Imogen grinned a bit. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

She leaned onto my shoulder and sighed. "I do have friends, you know."

I nodded, even though I actually didn't know. I'd never seen Imogen before the band, and had never seen her if she wasn't in my face, singing about my love.

"I just don't have very many. I think I tend to frighten people off."

"Nah," I said cheekily, waving my hand off. "You aren't scary in the slightest."

She smacked me across the shoulder with a giggle. "I'm just not good with people. Or maybe I am, and people aren't good with me."

"I'd say it's the former, but I like the way the latter sounds." I said teasingly.

She laughed. "We're friends, right?"

I thought about it for a moment. Despite how the girl irked me, she had gone out of her way to get hockey tickets so Cam and I could go on a date, without anyone asking her. She believed Cam and I had some epic romance, which even though she embarrassed me by shrieking about it in the halls, was very sweet and almost endearing, if I didn't have a lack of patience and it didn't make me want to strangle her.

"Yes, I think we are somewhere in the friendship category," I said with a nod.

She smiled at me, hugging me. "I call being the maid of honor at yours and Puppy Soup's wedding!"

Yep, I was going to regret that gesture of kindness for a while.

"But one condition," I said, wiggling out from her choke hold.

"Name it." She said, looking very solemn. Jeez, you think she'd been waiting her whole entire life for our wedding.

Wait, I wasn't getting married to him…yet, anyways. I'm pretty sure between the two of us we could force him into holy matrimony.

Ahem.

"No more singing about us in public. I mean it; I don't want him to find out."

"But why not?" she wailed, flopping back into the couch with an exasperated expression.

"Because," I said forcefully, "I want him to find out from me, not some dumb puck bunny."

"Fine," she said, drawing out the word in a heated sigh.

"Good," I smiled, then relaxed into the couch and turned my attention to the TV.

"I think you should just tell him."

"Well, then you don't get out very much."

"But what do you have to lose? I mean the guys already seen you naked, you can't get much worse than that."

"Well, gee, thanks a lot."

"You know what I mean," she said with a giggle.

"Yeah, I guess… But things are awkward now."

"Only because you're both letting it be."

"Well…"

"Take a risk, Mini Mats." She said with a cheeky grin.

I turned away from her, scoffing. Take a risk? As if! I'd probably be laughed into my early grave by him!

Nope, Cam and I ship had sailed. The next life though, he'd be mine for sure!

* * *

Cam came home from practice before my mom put the roast on the table. Imogen and I had been setting the table, my mother asking Imogen the standard getting-to-know-you questions, when Cam walked in, looking a bit dazed.

"Hello Cam," my mother said cheerfully, spooning mashed potatoes into a bowl. "How was practice?"

"Fine," he said, "a bit tiring, though. Do you need any help?"

"Sure, could you –" But she stopped midsentence and was staring at his hand. "Cam, what happened to your hand?"

"Oh," he said, glancing down at it. It was wrapped in a sterile bandage, and it was a rusted red from where Cam must have been bleeding. "I nicked it on my skate by accident."

My mother had wheeled over to him, taking his injured hand gingerly and observed did. "Did you clean it? Lord knows how many germs that ice can carry."

"Erm," Cam said, looking a bit guilty.

"C'mon, let's get it cleaned up. Maya, go and get Katie, tell her dinners ready."

I nodded, looking at the line of blood from the bandage. I wasn't an expert or anything, but it looked a bit big to be an accidental nick.

I turned to leave to get Katie and paused, turning back to Imogen. "You are not to call him "Puppy Soup" at any given time, understand?"

"You're no fun!" Imogen whined dramatically.

"I'll revoke your maid of honor status!" I threatened.

She looked abashed, then huffed. "Fine, fine, be a kill joy."

I nodded and headed up to get Katie.

* * *

Dinner was awkward, but that was nothing new. Katie glared at Imogen as she bit into her roast angrily. Cam and I avoided each other. Mom and Dad tried to make small talk with everyone. And Imogen had managed to make small talk with Cam, not even mentioning the fact that he looked like a puppy, but mentioning that his name made her instinctually hungry, which had made him blush and mumble something.

"Maya is a really good cellist." Imogen commented when my dad asked her about the band. "I think we can make it somewhere."

"We're okay," I supplied with a shrug. "We'll be better once we practice a few more times and get a gig."

"And groupies." Imogen added, spearing a carrot.

"As if anyone would be a groupie to you," Katie mumbled rudely. I elbowed her, earning a hard kick in the shin that made me yelp.

Imogen's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing, munching slowly on her carrot like a cow chewing cud.

"How have you been, Katie?" Imogen asked kindly once she was done chewing.

"Fine," Katie said snippily, spearing her roast with more force than needed, making Cam scoot further away from her.

"That's good," Imogen said with a smile, nodding a bit. "I'm glad your over that thing with Drew, he's quite something that one. I've been telling Bianca for months to let him go, but she won't hear of it. I don't really get the hype about him – he's okay looking, but a bit of a doorknob, if you know what I mean."

I gaped at Imogen in disbelief. The girl had a death wish! Not only one death wish, but multiple, because I'm completely positive that Katie would bring her back to life and kill her again!

Katie fumed from her spot, stabbing her food so hard it cracked the plate.

"Yes, we were glad when the Drew phase ended," mom supplied, earning herself a glare from Katie.

The old cliché "if looks could kill" was probably going to come true at the dinner table.

"Can I be excused?" Katie said threw gritted teeth, and before she got an okay, she got up so fast it knocked her chair over and she marched up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door so hard I heard something fall and crash.

My father shook his head and continued eating while my mom glared at the ceiling. "Sorry about Katie, she really is a sweet girl," my mom said, and I resisted the urge to snort. Sweet was never the word to describe Katie. Deranged? Yes. Sociopath? Most definitely! But sweet? No, Katie Matlin was anything but.

"She's just going through a rough patch at the moment. Once the air clears she'll be back to her usual self." My mom finished, sipping her water.

Imogen nodded with a smile, but said nothing.

When supper ended and my mom asked us to clear the dishes, I grabbed Imogen's arm. "Are you out of your mind?!"

"What?" Imogen asked, giving me a confused look.

"That thing with Katie earlier, are you completely crazy? She could have killed you. I'm surprised she didn't, because she sure wanted too!"

"Oh that," Imogen said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Katie's always very rude to me, always has been before the dark-hair cynic days, so I had a go at her. No big deal."

"No big deal?" I sputtered indignantly. "It's a very big deal. One time when I was seven and Katie was eleven, I accidentally spilt ice cream on her at the beach, nearly tried to kill me with my bucket, and that was _nothing _compared to what _you _did tonight!"

"You're exaggerating." Imogen said, grabbing a few plates and headed for the kitchen.

"I wish I was," I said, grabbing the glasses and silverware and following her. "But I'm not. Katie is a deranged psychopath!"

Imogen giggled, rinsing off the dishes, as Cam brushed past me to gather the rest of the stuff.

"Well, it was worth it, believe me."

I sighed. "I just hope she doesn't take it out on me. She's a vicious person when she wants to be."

Imogen grinned. "So I guess Katie isn't exactly sister of the year?"

"Not by a long shot. I mean she does nice things for me sometimes," I said, thinking about her covering for me with Cam. "But sometimes… I don't know. I think there are times when she just really wants to hurt me."

Imogen patted my hand. "Aw, don't be sad Mini Mats."

We stood in silence, her handing me dishes to load into the dishwasher, when suddenly she snapped her fingers. "I have an idea!"

"Oh boy," I muttered softly.

"No, you're going to love it!" She squealed, clapping her hands excitedly, hopping up and down. "I could be your surrogate big sister!"

I blinked.

"You'd be my little sister!" She squealed, tossing her arms around my shoulders, pulling me into another tight grip.

Yay! Trading one crazy sister in for another!

* * *

Once Imogen had left and Cam had run up to his room to hide out, I said goodnight to my parents and went upstairs.

While brushing my teeth I thought of what Imogen had said to me about Cam. Sadly, she was right; I had nothing to lose with him. I could tell him I loved him right now and the same awkwardness would stay between us.

Nothing could be worse than him seeing me naked that was for sure.

I rinsed out my mouth, tiptoed past his room, and crawled into bed, holding Willoughby tightly.

I had a really weird dream about Willoughby teaching my biology class and Tori was supposed to be my partner and we had to ice skate around to explain photosynthesis, and the Ice Hounds kept using my notebook as a puck. Cam had been there, looking at me, but trying not to at the same time. I'd gotten so frustrated that I'd tried to skate over to him as Imogen stood by the sidelines, wearing a foam finger and cheering me on, even though I couldn't get to him.

I'd woken up feeling confused, muttering about my skates being too slow, looking around my room wondering where the classroom had gone.

When I realized it'd been a dream, I sank back into my pillows, shoving my face into Willoughby, thinking about Imogen's words. It was like _It's a Small World _from hell playing over and over. "What do you have to lose?" "Take a risk, Mini Mats!" over and over, until I couldn't take it anymore.

Looking at my clock I saw it was one in the morning and with a sudden burst of boldness, kicked the covers off and went across the hall, feeling determined. Not even bothering to knock on the door, I opened it with Katie-like force, and saw that he was awake on his computer.

When he saw it was me, he jumped, his face turning bright red. "Uh, Maya, hi!" he squeaked.

"Look, I know things have been awkward!" I snapped, feeling incredibly stupid, but not caring. Imogen's stupid words wouldn't stop, and they were egging me on! "So what, you saw me naked, it's not like you saw anything!" He blushed at that, turning away from me.

I felt impulsive, but embarrassed by what I was saying. It was like watching a car wreck, I couldn't even stop myself. And with a sudden impulse, I marched over to him, making him go very close to the headboard.

"I like you, a lot! And Imogen's right! I have nothing to lose!" With a sudden burst of adrenaline, I grabbed him and kissed him.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Yes! It's finally happened! A Camaya kiss! I bet you didn't expect to see one of those for a while. So how did you guys enjoy the chapter? I hope you enjoyed all the Imogen/Maya goodness, I know Imogen's been lacking a bit the last few chapters, so I figured she'd be the one to indirectly drive Maya to her breaking point of sanity. And just so everyone knows, I know Katie is not as bad as I'm writing her. Every good clichéd story about an awkward girl getting the boy needs a villain, and Katie's whole chaperone-date thing inspired this Katie. I'm also going to bring back the puck bunnies soon, because I have so much planned for them now that the Camaya ball is rolling downhill. As always, thanks to everyone who has reviewed/favored/followed/read because I love you so much! Please leave a quick review, and I will get chapter eleven up as soon as I can!


	11. Chapter Eleven: Checkmate

**Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.**

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**Author's Note: **Oh my God, I am so sorry for this wicked long wait, like it's literally been over a month and I've been trying to write this, but lately I've been busy and I seriously wanted to crank out a couple bad boys before the episode premiered, but I hope this suffices your craving of Camaya for now! I love you all, and once again, sorry for this wait! Forgive me?

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**Chapter Eleven: Checkmate**

The moment our lips touched it was like I was shot back to reality from a canon.

There I was, after one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, kissing him.

It was like one of those dreams where you're doing something embarrassing, like going to school naked and believe it's actually happening to you because you're trying to wake up but can't.

I broke the kiss and immediately backed away from him. "Oh my God," I breathed, shoving my hands into my hair. He was looking at me, his eyes wide in shock, mouth opened, trying to regain composure. "Oh my God!"

With that, I felt from his room, slamming my bedroom door behind me and locking it, not even caring if it woke Katie up. Her killing me would be an act of mercy at this point.

I felt panicky, as if my bedroom walls were closing in on me, and began to pace the length of my room, hands fiddling with my hair as I willed myself not to breakdown and cry in the middle of my bedroom.

The realization of what I had down hit me hard, and I felt cheated of a stepping stone moment of adolescent history. I had blown my very first kiss. The one moment romanticized to me for as long as I could remember, the moment I'd dreamed about my entire life – ruined.

In a split second of impulse I had ruined what should have been the most romantic moment of my life. I mean first kissed are supposed to be romantic! They should make Disney and Nicholas Sparks green with envy. They should have music, moonlight, stars, maybe rain, and a field of flowers on top of a hill looking over a city, a tree that you're under. It should be something straight from the movies; a perfect moment that you could replay over and over and smile and get giddy over.

But no, what did I get? I had let myself have a spur of the moment, cringe-worthy kiss, instigated by me. The kiss I'd never look back on and sigh dreamily over.

The thought made me cry.

How could I do this to myself? What was wrong with me?

And Cam! The poor guy! I had yelled at him, then out of nowhere, just kissed him. No warning! Nothing! I had basically forced him into this! He must think he's living across from an even more mentally unstable person.

All I had done since the moment he stepped foot into this house was embarrass him, but this really took the cake.

If I had thought my life was over when he saw me naked it was nothing compared to this. There was no going back now, he knew I liked him and he had made no move to see me.

I sighed, collapsing on my bed, clutching Willoughby like he was a life line, and nibbled on his ear, trying to create a plan.

I had no clue where to go from here. Should I go back to his room and apologize? If I didn't and I saw him tomorrow should I apologize then? Or should I pretend like nothing had happened? Follow Cam's lead? Or my current favorite (and the only logical reason why I'd gone and ruined my life like this): claim I had a mental lapse of sanity.

I thought it could work. If Cam asked me about it, I'd say I'd gone mentally insane and didn't know what I was doing and my alternate personality took over and – I paused in my mental ramblings when I heard a light knock on the door.

"Maya," he whispered, knocking again. I jumped up from my bed, creating even more space between me and the door. I felt like a cornered rabbit, waiting for the snake to strike. "I know you're not asleep, can I please come in."

"Uh," I mumbled, feeling dizzy. "Maya isn't here at the moment."

I smacked myself on the head. "Way to go doofus," I hissed quietly at myself.

"Well, can I leave her a message?" Cam asked, playing along.

I felt myself smile, despite the situation. "Sure," I said, easing myself slowly to the door.

"I wanted to let her know that it's fine, and that I hope I haven't lost my chance."

I felt my heart skip a beat. He liked me!

I was about to yank open the door when I heard another door slam open.

"What the hell is going on out here?!" shrieked Katie. "Seriously, the both of you are lucky I don't slam you with a door!"

I opened my door and saw a furious Katie towering over Cam who was shaking with fear. Katie gave me a murderous glare.

"If this nonsense doesn't stop, I will literally kill you. Have I made myself clear?!"

Cam nodded furiously, looking like he was about to wet himself, I on the other hand sighed.

"Sorry, Katie," I muttered.

She threw us another glare and slammed her door so hard it rattled on its hinges and something fell off a shelf.

"Sorry about her," I whispered, feeling my cheeks heat as I looked at him.

He nodded, regaining himself, his face also red.

"You haven't lost your chance," I whispered, looking down. "Have I lost mine?"

Suddenly I felt a hand cup my cheek and my head lifted up and his lips were against mine. I froze for a moment, and then began to kiss him back, wrapping my hands around his neck, wanting to deepen it.

When we broke apart he looked as breathless as I felt.

"Wow," I breathed.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"So what does this mean?" I asked him.

"Are you two serious?!" Katie yelled.

Cam's eyes widened and he grabbed my hand and lead me to his room, closing the door.

"I don't know," he said.

"Are we a couple now?"

"I think so."

I smiled, hugging him.

"So what do we do now?" He asked.

"I guess we should probably get some sleep," I said, but I felt far from tired. I felt like I could run to the moon and back with all the energy I had bubbling inside me.

"Yeah, I guess we should, I have an early practice." He said sheepishly.

"Well, good night then," I said, kissing him goodbye.

"Good night," he said.

Once the door shut behind me I ran back to my room and grabbed my pillow, squealing loudly into it.

I grabbed my phone, forgetting that it was nearly two in the morning and dialed Tori's number, heading into my closet so Katie couldn't hear me through the wall.

"Hello," Tori's groggy voice answered.

"Tori, it's Maya," I said, feeling giddy.

"Maya," Tori said tiredly, I heard something clank down and she sighed. "It's 1:37 in the morning."

"I know, but I have to tell you something, I'm going to burst if I don't gush about it to someone."

"Can't you hold it in till homeroom?" she asked.

"I kissed Cam," I said.

That seemed to get her attention. "What?"

"And then I ran away," I said, curling my knees to my chin.

"You _what_?!" she shrieked.

I filled her in about what had happened and at the end of it she squealed. "Maya, this is amazing!"

"I know!" I squealed back.

"You do know what's going to happen now though, right?"

I blinked, feeling confused. "We get married, have kids, grow old together?"

"The puck bunnies," was all she said.

"Oh."

"Yeah, and they'll probably play dirty about this once word gets around. Cam's a big favorite amongst them, being a shoo-in to the NHL and all."

"I forgot about them," I admitted, sighing, feeling my giddiness deflate a bit thinking about the Bimbos and their good looks and hair, and how compared to them, I wouldn't stand a chance.

"I'd keep an eye out for them," Tori warned, but then her mood changed. "But forget about them! This is amazing, and it should be celebrated! We have to call Tristan!"

I laughed, still feeling a bit uneasy being reminded of my rivals. My clinically insane, good looking rivals.

"So are you guys going to go on a date?" she asked excitedly.

"We haven't really planned anything," I laughed. "But Imogen gave me hockey tickets, so we could probably do that."

"What? No, don't you plan the date!" Tori said frantically.

"Why? He likes hockey and Imogen went to all the trouble to get them for me."

"Maya, Maya, Maya," Tori tsked at me. "Guys love to take the lead, be in control – hold on a sec, I have the article I read somewhere." There was a sound of movement and with an "Aha!" she cleared her throat. "According to _Sizzle Teen_ boys love to be in control, they love to plan the dates, woo the girl, and be the man. You have already made yourself the dominant one by instigating the first kiss; you'll drive him away if you plan the first date too!"

I felt the panic surge within me. She was right! I couldn't be the dominant one, I couldn't treat him like a dog, he was my boyfriend and I had to treat him like that, and if letting him plan dates was what a good girlfriend did, then I would. Even if the whole thing sounded a bit silly to me, considering I had tickets and it was a good idea.

By the time I hung up with Tori I sort of wished I hadn't called her. My good mood had been rained upon with the reminder of the puck bunnies and the fear that I could possibly run Cam off by being dominant. I felt a bit guilty, but I couldn't help it. My night had gone from miserable to happy back to miserable all within the hour and I wanted to wake up and find out it was all just some messed up dream.

* * *

"Maya, you okay?" Imogen asked as I packed up my cello.

I nodded, "Yeah, fine."

Imogen's eyes narrowed. "What happened?"

I glanced around, the room was empty, aside from Zig who already knew about Cam and I, and I sighed. "I kissed Cam last night."

Imogen was quiet for a moment, then she exploded. She squealed, clapped her hands, jumped up and down, hugged me, making me bounce along with her.

"You and Puppy Soup!" she sang. "I can't believe it! How did it happen? Was there candles? Tell me there were candles! And did your foot pop up? How was he? Was it a good kiss?"

She assaulted me with questions and I felt overwhelmed and a bit giddy by them, until I saw the look on Zig's face.

He was glaring at Imogen, and when he saw me looking at him he tossed me a glare, grabbed his bag, and stormed out the classroom.

I looked after him and sighed. He'd been moody with me all day, giving me curt answers, ignoring me. I didn't know what I did to upset him so much, but his mood wasn't helping me at all. So ignoring his tantrum, I told Imogen everything about the kiss, becoming his girlfriend, and what Tori had said.

Word hadn't gotten to the puck bunnies yet since Cam had been busy with hockey, and he had a game tonight so he had missed lunch, so I was clear for today, but I knew that'd be ending very soon. Never mess with fangirls, after all. They're a bit vicious.

Imogen's brow furrowed once I finished. "Do you still have the tickets?"

I nodded, reaching into my bag. "I'm sorry, Imogen, it was sweet, but I can't drive him away like that."

Imogen snorted. "As if it would, honestly, Mini Mats, _Sizzle Teen _is basically a waste of trees, but since I know you won't suggest the date, I'm going to have to."

My eyes widened. "What?"

"Relax, Min, I'm not going to force him, just suggest it. And if he doesn't, I'll get my money back!" With a final smile, she grabbed her bag and skipped from the room.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Filler chapter alert! Sorry, guys! I just want to take a minute and say that I love you all, and I'm dreading Cam's storyline this season. Cam is literally my Puppy Soup, and if he dies I will be holding Willoughby drowning in my tears! I hope the next chapter comes faster than this one and involves a Camaya date (winkwink), but I make no promises. Have a Happy Valentine's Day, and all that jazz!


	12. Chapter Twelve: Reality

**Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.**

* * *

**Author's Note: **I can't believe Cam's gone, like I feel like it's not even real and it's some sick joke the writers are pulling, and he'll walk in while Maya's playing her cello and they'll laugh about how gullible we all are.

Anyways, I do want to continue and update this story, I'm not sure if others who were writing multi-chapter Camaya fics are going to do the same, or if it seems disrespectful to Campbell's memory, but I want to finish this story. A part of me needs to keep the things that made me love Cam and Camaya alive, which sounds weird probably, because it is a fictional couple, and Cam was just fiction, but his death and his story moves me so much.

I know this story has had the worst time with updates, and now with Cam gone, I know that will not change in the slightest – life simply gets in the way, but now it's the happiness and humor that this story has will be hard to find and grasp onto. I do hope you guys stick with me finishing this story, and I hope chapters never fail to disappoint you, and furthermore, anyone who is suffering like Cam did or are the person left behind to wonder why, please know that my askbox here and on tumblr are always open. I will listen to anyone, no judgments, nothing. RIP Campbell Saunders, it only took one episode for you to find your way into my heart and impact me in a way I never knew you could.

* * *

**Reality**

I was practicing my cell when someone knocked on the wall beside my door. I turned around in my seat, my face splitting into a wide grin when I saw Cam standing there grinning back at me.

He came in; leaving the door opened, and sat down on my bed.

"Hey," I said, pulling my cello down carefully, then gave him a small kiss on the lips. "How was practice?"

Cam's eyes flickered for a moment – like the happy light he had when he came in turned off, leaving them sad for a quick moment, then in an instant the light was back on, as if it had never happened at all.

"Oh, just long, but good, I guess." He shrugged off-handedly. "How was your day?"

"It was good," I smiled, brushing off his moment as nothing. "Imogen's ecstatic about us, and Tori tried to convince me all day to join some stupid beauty pageant."

Cam nodded, but his face was a bit flushed from mentioning Imogen, and I wanted to take back bringing her up at all. What if I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about us getting together and about what had happened last night? Did telling people make me seem like a loser, or some girl who had to bring up her boyfriend every five seconds?

"Uh," I coughed, feeling nervous. I wanted to say something to stop the awkward silence, and I could tell he did too.

"I'm sorry about not being able to have lunch with you." Cam said guiltily. "Dallas is really working us to make sure we win our first game."

"Oh it's fine, really." I assured, smiling brightly at him. "If you'd have come Tristan and Tori would have questioned you about everything, and Imogen –" I stopped, glancing at him, feeling that nervous, unsure feeling bubbling in my stomach. "Was it okay that I told Tori, Tristan, and Imogen about last night?"

"Of course it's okay," Cam said, laughing a bit, and looking at me with a confused expression. "They're your friends, it's not like we're some secret."

"Good," I smiled. "Sorry, I'm just… nervous about everything."

"Yeah, I am too." He said softly.

"I've never done this before. Dated, I mean. I have no clue what on earth I'm doing, and I'm afraid I'll mess up everything." I admitted, my face bright red.

"I haven't either, and I'm afraid too. Really afraid, actually," he said, shaking his head.

I smiled at this. It was comforting to know that he was just as stupid in all this as I was, and that I wasn't the only dumb, inexperienced kid in this relationship.

"Imogen came to see me at practice; she sat there and watched us the whole time." Cam said, breaking my thoughts.

I nearly groaned, fighting the urge to bury my head in my hands at the thought of Imogen sitting in the ice rink, watching creepily as the team practiced.

"She gave me two hockey tickets, and…" he paused, floundering to find his words.

"Yeah, she gave me them yesterday. She wanted me to ask you out with them." I conveniently left out the part about Tori's warning, deciding that if it was true it'd be embarrassing and it would probably make him feel unmanly and guilty, or angry.

"Do you want too?" he asked. There was something about his voice – an uncertainty about it, even a bit pleading. Almost like he was begging me to say no, and it confused me. Did he not want to date me? Or did he not want to do _this _date? Had Imogen ruined it by making him feel unmanly?

I hated how complicated all this stuff was!

"Would you be upset if I told you that I didn't really like hockey?"

He grinned. "No, not at all!" he assured me. "We can do something else!"

"Okay, that sounds good," I said, then sighed. "Sorry about Imogen, she's a bit… enthusiastic about us."

Cam chuckled quietly, "It's fine, she just wants you to be happy."

Man, he was perfect. And mature. And absolutely wonderful!

"Yeah, she does," I said, smiling as I leaned in to kiss him, when someone cleared their throat loudly. I groaned, not even needing to glance at the door to see who was standing there.

"Dinners ready," she said, her dark eyes narrowing onto Cam. "Maya, can I talk to you, _alone_."

Cam stood up, turning to smile at me one last time, then moved past Katie, who didn't take her eyes off of him until he completely left the room.

I glared at Katie. "What's your problem?"

"You and him? Really, Maya?"

"You knew I liked him," I pointed out snippily, crossing my arms over my chest. "What's the big deal?"

"He's a hockey guy, Maya, they're bad news!"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh please! Cam has lived her for over a month and he's been nothing but sweet and wonderful to us."

"Those hockey a_ssholes_ trashed Jake's garden, Maya. Do you honestly think Cam had nothing to do with that?" She asked angrily, placing her hands to her hips.

"Yes, I do think that! He'd never do that, Katie!"

"You can't date him!"

"Yes I can!"

"As if mom and dad would even let you both date!" Katie scoffed, rolling her eyes.

I froze, feeling the color drain from my face as the realization seeped in to me. After all this time swooning over him, wanting to date him and kiss him, and even marry him, I never once even considered my parents.

Sure, they never said we couldn't date each other – the subject wasn't even addressed by _his _parents the night they had had dinner with us, but when my parents were asked to let Cam live with us, they were a bit hesitant. I mean, a fifteen year old boy living in the bedroom across the hall from me didn't exactly bring a smile to their face.

Katie was looking at me, almost sympathetically. "You know they won't."

I glared at her, then shoved past her and stomped angrily down the stairs. Stupid Katie! She always found a way to rain on my parade!

Here I was, happy that Cam had liked me back, and that we were about to date, and kiss, and be together, and of course Hurricane Katie had to go and open her stupid mouth.

* * *

I was scrubbing at the dirty pans when Cam came in with an armload of plates from the table, setting them beside the sink, he turned to me, looking like he wanted to say something, but didn't know where to begin.

"Katie's ruining my life," I said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Really," he said amusedly.

"Yep," I sighed. "I swear her sole purpose in life is to make me miserable."

"What did she do?" He asked.

I threw the sponge down, making soap bubbles fly into the air, and water splash over the side of the sink.

"She pointed out something to me. About us, if we start to date and everything…" I said, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.

Cam's eyes widened. "Oh. And what's that?" he asked, sounding nervous.

My heart gave a little anxious flutter, and I looked down at the floor. "My parents wouldn't allow it."

There was a tense pause as he mulled over that.

I knew the obvious solution was to not say anything. To dive into this destined-to-be relationship, and let caution to the wind, but in reality, I wasn't the smoothest person in the world.

Sneaking, lying, anything that would involve dating Cam without my parents, especially my mother, would crack me like an egg.

One look from my mother and I'd spill the beans for sure.

Like I said, my mother was intimidating, and she put up with years of Katie, and I was like an open book to her. I was the good, quiet daughter. The one who was supposed to be more like Katie, but at least I was well behaved. My mother would see right through me, and she'd see right through Cam too.

Cam bit the inside of his cheek, his eyes distant for a moment, and then he reached over and took my wrist gently.

"Are you sure?"

But then again, the look my soulmate was giving me was cracking me like an egg too.

I bit my lip, wanting to look away from his eyes, but was captivated by them. Damn, Imogen was right; they were puppy-like; sad, deep, sweet, and endearing.

"I want to -" I began, but he cut me off, capturing my lips with his. His kiss, unlike mine, was soft and sweet. The kind of kiss that happens in movies and on TV, but this was ten times better. (Even though his nose had bumped in to mine on the way to my mouth. It was still perfect.)

I felt my legs grow weak at his kiss, trying desperately to send brainwaves to my lips to kiss him back. But I stood there, motionless. Like a mushy, stupid bump on a log.

He stopped and pulled away to see my face, his cheeks red with embarrassment. He opened his mouth, and then clamped it shut again, and glanced down at the floor, as if the tiles held the words he wanted to say to me.

"Thank you," I muttered quietly, feeling stupid as the phrase tumbled out of my mouth. Do people thank people for kisses like this? It never happens in the movies, but do kisses feel as wonderful as that in the movies?

I don't think any kiss could compare to the one that Cam had given me.

"Uh…" he said, "you're welcome?"

I felt my neck grow warm.

"Love fest is over, kiddies," Katie snapped from the doorway.

I turned, seeing my older sister leaning against the doorframe, her icy eyes narrowed at Cam.

"Mom said she needs you to finish clearing the table."

I scoffed, knowing Katie is putting her chores on me, but instead of arguing like I usually do, I just go do it.

Cam's kiss was so wonderful, not even Katie Matlin, killjoy extraordinaire, can ruin my mood.

"You're being dumb," Katie muttered, as I gather the leftovers. "No guy is worth getting in trouble over."

I glared at her. "Cam's different. Just wait, Katie. You'll see."

* * *

Tristan and Tori are talking mindlessly about some scandal in French, as I sit there and doodle on my notebook, waiting for Cam to show up.

I was still giddy from last night with the kiss, and watching almost the entire first season of _Lost_, that he had brought with him, together, though I barely knew what had happened since most of it was spent talking and laughing together, until my dad told us to go to bed.

"So when are you and Cam going on a date?" Tori asked, turning to me as Tristan scoffed about their now finished conversation.

"Oh," I said, looking up. "I'm not sure," I shrugged.

"He hasn't _planned _anything yet?" Tristan asked with wide eyes.

"No, not that I know of," I said, putting my pen down. "Though Imogen got tickets to a hockey game for us. That was originally how I was supposed to start the relationship."

Tori and Tristan looked at each other with matching horrified expressions.

"No," Tori said, shaking her head frantically, "Maya, _no_."

"I don't think he really wants to do it." I said, still feeling giddy.

"You mean," Tristan said, and looked around and with a hushed whisper said, "He doesn't want to go on a date?"

"No, doofus!" I said with a laugh. "He doesn't want to do _that _date!"

"Oh." Tristan said, and then looked at Tori.

"So he has no plans?" she asked again, dumbfounded.

I shrugged. "If he does," I said smiled, leaning in to whisper to them. "They're really _secret_."

I then laughed.

"I think she's love sick," Tristan whispered.

"I'll say. I've never seen it so bad." Tori said, smiling dreamily.

I placed my chin in my palm, smiling at them. "He's perfect, you guys. I've never liked anyone this much in my entire life!"

They squealed.

"This is so romantic," Tristan said. "I wish we could vlog about this."

Tori nodded in agreement. "We could talk about how you two are our otp. If you were on _West Drive_, you'd knock every one of our otps out."

Tristan sighed. "If only you two were fangirlable."

I laughed. "Imogen doesn't seem to have a problem with that."

"Ah, speak of the devil," Tristan whispered.

I turned my head, seeing him nod at Lonnie, who has him corned by the door, twirling her curl endearingly.

And it seems to be the cure for my lovesickness.

"Oh no," I whispered.

Tori waved her hand in dismissal to my panic. "Please, Maya, as if Lonnie could compete with you. Cam's liked you this entire time, no stupid puck bunny is going to change that."

"Watch the claws, Santamaria." Tristan joked, but then turned to me. "But she's right, Maya. Couldn't you tell how Cam was around you? Lonnie isn't even competition to you, considering how he looks like he wants her to disappear."

I glance back over to him, seeing how he eases away from her, but I don't see what they see. All I see is him and Lonnie, the girl who is prettier than me on all accounts.

He comes in and takes his seat beside me, smiling at me.

"Hey," he said, pulling out his textbook.

I nod at him, trying to smile.

"Hello, Cam," Tori said, flashing him a smile.

"Uh, hi… Tori," he said, giving her a puzzled look.

"Cam," Tristan said, smiling.

"They're definitely otp-worthy," Tori muttered to Tristan, and he nods in return.

I blush, and Cam gives them a confused look.

Can anyone I know just be sane around us?

* * *

Imogen smiled widely at me when I waked into the band room. She looked like she was ready to attack me, or something, by the manic glint in her eyes.

"So," she said, bouncing in her seat when I sat next to her, "what happened?"

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "Well, we aren't doing the hockey thing, if that's what you're asking. Thank you for the tickets, though."

"Oh, it's no problem," she said waving it off. "What are you guys doing for your date? Is it big and romantic? Is he taking you to France to have a picnic on top of the Eiffel Tower?"

"I'm not sure. He didn't tell me."

"Ohh!" she squealed, clapping her hands, "a secret, romantic date, how exciting!"

"Well, I'm not really sure if that's what it is, but it doesn't matter."

"Oh please, you can't fool me, Mini Mats." She said, crossing her arms. "I know you're just as excited for your date as I am, and _I'm _not even attending it."

Somehow I doubted that. I could imagine Imogen watching our date with binoculars, or sitting beside us, squealing like an idiot and chanting about how cute we were. But I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. She had some normalcy to her… somewhere deep inside of her.

I cracked a smile though. "Yeah, I am. And last night we had fun together too."

Imogen leaned closer to me in her seat.

"Okay," Mo began to start practice, standing up once Adam came into the door.

"Shush!" Imogen squawked at him, waving her hand. "Tell me what happened?"

"Imogen, we –" Mo tried.

"No! Maya," Imogen said, almost touching her face to mine.

"Uh, well we just talked, and watched _Lost_. Well, we tried to. We basically talked through the entire season until one in the morning. It was nice," I said, smiling and feeling flustered that Mo, Adam, and Zig were looking at me impatiently. "It was like our FaceRange conversations we used to have before he moved here."

Imogen's jaw dropped, and she began sputtering. "You both had a _pre-relationship _relationship? That's so cute!" She placed her hands to her mouth, squealing.

"Oh my God!" snarled Zig. "Who cares?"

"Don't be a grumpy Gretel, Zigmund." Imogen said, turning to him and throwing him a glare. "This is adorable, and everyone in the world cares, thank you very much!" She huffed, turning back to me.

"Can't say I care very much," Mo muttered, shifting beside Adam, who nodded in agreement. "Look, are we having practice, because I have some news, and if we're going to do it, we need to practice!"

"_Fine_," Imogen sighed, but whispered to me. "We'll talk after."

I nodded, but I was busy looking at Zig who was glaring at me. What was his problem? It wasn't my fault that Imogen would force me into talking about Cam if I hadn't done it then.

"Okay, so Marisol just told me that there is a dance this Friday to unify Student Government and the Icehounds, and Whisperhug is going to perform!"

My jaw dropped.

Imogen lets out an excited squeal. "Are you serious?" she gasped.

Mo nodded.

"But… we only have one song." Adam said uneasily.

"I know, but it'd be our first gig, and we've been practicing for a while." Mo said, but sharing Adam's uneasiness.

"This would be amazing if we performed! I mean we _are _planning on entering the battle of the bands, right? This will be good practice for it." I said, feeling confident about it.

Everything was finally going good. The band was doing well; Cam and I were finally together. It felt like nothing could possibly go wrong.

Which, of course, is what everyone thinks when something bad is just around the corner, waiting for the perfect opportunity to ruin everything.

* * *

**Author's Note: **A bit of a cliffhanger, as always. Ugh, I hate promising things, because I know a date was supposed to happen, but it just wouldn't fit here. Sigh, I'm sorry. This chapter just took so long to write because I'm just really upset about Cam and Camaya, and then I got really busy with school, and I had barely anytime spring break, so yeah, I'm sorry about the long wait, and if Cam was OOC, because I did try really hard to get him IC. I will try to have the next chapter out soon because I love everyone. Reviews are welcomed, and thank you everyone who is still supporting this story.


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Dances

**Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.**

* * *

**Author's Note: **Zombie literally tore my heart out. I mean Maya drinking? And Maya saying the word sexy and acting sexy and making out with boys on beds? Maya, you're a fetus, you're not allowed to know about the word sexy, let alone know what it means or say it! Maya losing her innocence is not okay. But on the other hand, I'm loving Talia being all ranty about our world while drunk, and basically just being Talia.

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: Dances**

I saw Cam immediately when I entered the cafeteria with Tori and Zig, hand in hand, making plans to go to a movie – Tori wanted to double with me and Cam, but I had declined, considering Cam and I hadn't even had a date of our own yet.

Cam was over in the cafeteria line, and I rushed over to him, grabbing a tray, and almost knocking down someone in the process.

"Hey," I whispered to him, trying to be seductive.

He jumped and turned to me, a smile spreading across his face when he realized it was me.

"Hey," he said back, kissing me on the cheek.

"This is a day for the history books," I said, grabbing an orange. "I finally get to have lunch with you."

He laughed. "Yeah, it's nice to not have to practice and eat on the way back to school."

"I should be honored that you have time in your busy hockey schedule for me." I said.

He gave an uneasy chuckle.

"I'm surprised Imogen hasn't popped out yet with a camera." I said.

"Does she always act… intense?" he asked.

"For the most part," I shrugged. "I'd like to say she's harmless, but I'm not too sure of it."

He searched my face to see if I was kidding and I cracked a smile, and he smiled back, laughing a bit.

"C'mon, you should be used to the press by now anyways." I commented, grabbing a turkey and cheese sandwich. "You're the team's star player and all."

He became uneasy again.

It was funny how he'd do that when his hockey title was brought up – or sometimes, if someone brought up hockey in general. It just struck me as odd how little he seemed to enjoy his rep as the star.

His teammates seemed like arrogant, cocky jerks. They'd probably use their title to seem better than everyone else, but Cam, Cam almost seemed turned off by it.

Everyone always warned me about walking on eggshells around girls – I mean you could set Tori off in a second –, but no one ever told you how to deal with guys.

There had to be a manual somewhere on what not to say to guys like Cam.

"I guess," he said, but sounded off.

I hated that I had to grip my tray and that I couldn't use my hands to distract myself from the awkward air that had settled between us.

"Uh, so there's a dance this Friday, to welcome the Ice Hounds," I said, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, I heard Dallas say something about that at practice yesterday." Cam said.

"Well, Whisperhug – my band – is playing!" I said, smiling widely.

"Wow, that's great Maya!" Cam said, moving to hug me, but stopping when he remembered that he was holding his tray.

"Thanks," I said.

"So, I guess asking you to the dance would be kind of dumb, huh?"

"No, not entirely," I said in a playful manor.

He chuckled. "Good. Okay. So would you like to go with me?"

I made my way to the cash register and tilted my head towards him.

"I don't know, I mean, honestly, Friday I'm going to be a big superstar, I'm not sure I can be associated with little people like you."

He shoved me playfully and I laughed.

"Of course I want to go with you, doofus!" I snickered, then handed the lady my money.

"Well I had to ask just to be sure," he said. "You are a famous rock star and all."

I stuck my tongue out at him and as we were making our way to the table when someone put an arm around Cam.

"Right this way, Rookie," a tall, dark skinned boy in an Ice Hounds letterman jacket said, leading Cam over to a table of boys in the same letterman table. "You don't want to sit with a bunch of girls, what are you? Gay?"

My face dropped somewhere on the floor beside my heart. I wanted to rip the guys arm off! He'd seen Cam every lunch for the past two and a half weeks, while I had been deprived. And yes, I realize he lives with me, but that doesn't count!

"Ah, actually –" Cam tried weakly, clearing his throat when the guy looked at him. "Maya's my – uh," Cam turned to me, not sure if saying it would make everything awkward.

"I'm his girlfriend," I said, stepping closer to Cam.

The guy's eyes widened a bit, and then he started to laugh. "Wow, Rookie, good for you, bagging yourself a puck bunny."

He let go of Cam, and made his way over to the table, leaving Cam sputtering and me wide-eyed.

"For the record," he said, once he was composed. "I don't think you're a puck bunny."

"You better not!" I said, making his eyes widen. "Or I'd have to kick your ass." I smiled.

He laughed. "Or Katie would do it for you."

"Well, she is a black belt."

"Really?" he asked, sounding a bit nervous. "I guess that shouldn't surprise me any."

"It shouldn't. She's psycho." I said, leading him to the table. "And she probably wouldn't hesitate to kick your ass."

I heard him gulp, and I gave him a bright, cheery smile.

"Hey, Cam," Tristan said, turning to us.

Tori and Zig stopped their conversation, and she turned and smiled at him. "Cam, this is Zig, my boyfriend. Zig, this is the famous Cam you've been hearing Maya mope about these past few weeks."

I glared at her. "I haven't been moping!" I defended, and then I turned to Cam. "She's a liar, I swear."

Tori rolled her eyes, and didn't notice Zig glaring a bit at Cam and I.

My eye narrowed at Zig, but was smart enough to not say anything. I had no idea what Zig's problem had been with me these past few weeks, but I was so sick of him and his stupid dirty looks!

He was such a stupid drama king!

Cam, on the other hand, noticed this and covered his hand with mine, glaring back at Zig.

My heart melted. He was so sweet, trying to comfort me and defend me at the same time. I leaned toward him, smiling.

"Aw!" I heard Imogen say, leaning herself over us and draping her arms on our shoulders. "You two are so cute!"

"Hey, Imogen," I said uneasily, feeling my face heat up.

"I guess you guys didn't get Mo's email," she said, taking a fry off Cam's plate and popping it into her mouth. "We had emergency Whisperhug practice today, and every lunch until the dance. We've been waiting for you for a while."

"What?" I asked, leaping to my feet and grabbing my orange.

"Yeah, he's kind of mad," Imogen said, taking another fry.

Zig stood up too, kissing Tori goodbye, and leading the way out of the cafeteria.

"Sorry," I apologized to Cam. "I'll make it up to you."

Cam shrugged. "It's fine."

I kissed his cheek, and after a squeal from Imogen, dragged her away from him before she could eat the rest of his fries.

"You two are even cuter than I imagined." She said giddily, wrapping her arm around my shoulder.

"Thanks," I said, unsure of what to say. "So, I don't know if this is weird, or awkward to ask, but do you have anyone. I mean, I never heard you say anything about a relationship, but…"

"I'm free as a bird. I was dating a guy, but we weren't right for each other. I thought we were…" she got distant for a minute, and it was weird to see the happy and bouncy Imogen I had gotten to know fade away. It was scary, like she wasn't even her anymore. Then as quickly as she left she was back, smiling like nothing had happened. "Oh well, it wasn't meant to be."

I was silent, unsure of what to say. I didn't know what I had expected her to say, but not something like her story. What had the guy done? Why weren't they right for each other?

But I didn't ask those questions, instead I slung my arm around hers and we made our way to the music room.

* * *

Tori was in my room that Thursday, doing French homework when she blurted it out. "I think I'm losing Zig."

I blink for a moment, confused, and looked up at her. "What?"

"I think he likes someone else. Or maybe he doesn't like as much. He's been distant with me lately." Tori said, a frown marring her pretty face.

"Oh, Tor," I said, patting her hand. "I'm sure that isn't true."

"But it _is_, Maya," she said, shaking her head. "He was like this last year," her voice began to crack. "Right before he broke up with me, he started getting distant, like he was bored."

Tori then began to cry. "I thought it was different, Maya," she sputtered. "He – he said he l-loved me."

I began rubbing her arms soothingly. "Aw, I'm sure he's just stressed with band stuff, he is our lead singer. That's a lot of pressure."

"I know," she said, wiping her eyes with a tissue I handed her. "But I've been here with him before, and I'm scared."

"You could be wrong, Tori. People change."

She was quiet for a long moment. "Yeah… I thought they could."

I didn't say anything. There wasn't anything I could say to help her. And it probably wouldn't be smart of me to bring up the fact that Zig was acting like a class-A jerk to me as of late.

Instead, I held Tori for another moment, and then she turned to me. "So how have you and Cam been?"

"Good, but it's barely been a week. I'm still nervous though. But it's good, because he's nervous, too. There isn't any pressure, you know?"

Tori giggled, and then sighed. "Imogen's right, Maya, you and Cam are good together."

"Once again, it hasn't even been a week." But inside, my heart was fluttering. I knew in my soul Cam and I were meant to be. We were soulmates, after all.

Tori nudged me knowingly and I smiled, turning my head so she couldn't completely see the blush blooming on my cheeks.

Tori laughed, shoving me a bit.

"Is it stupid?" I asked her suddenly, feeling a bit self-conscious. "That I think he's my soulmate and everything?"

Tori frowned. "No. I mean Romeo and Juliet were soulmates and they were our age!"

"Tori… they committed suicide over their love."

Tori waved her hand. "But that's not going to happen to you two. And besides, Romeo and Juliet are the basis for young, fast love. Love at first sight exists, and it can be just as real as slow love when you're older."

I bit my lip. Cam and I did have a lot in common with Romeo and Juliet, aside from the age and the fact that we were soulmates. Our parents would never _ever _approve of our relationship.

But I knew, thankfully, Cam and I would never end up like Romeo and Juliet.

* * *

I stood in front of the mirror fixing my hair when there was a soft knock on my door. I smiled, making sure there was nothing gross on my teeth and that I looked decent, and taking a breath, I squared my shoulders and opened the door.

"Hey," Cam said, pecking me on the lips.

"Hey," I whispered back, feeling lightheaded.

A quick beat passed between us, and once I regained my land legs, I blushed.

"Sorry," I said in a flustered voice, stepping aside so he could come in. "You look nice."

"Thanks," he said as I closed the door. "You do too."

I could hear Katie turning up her stereo and rolled my eyes. She was so immature!

"So are you nervous?" he asked.

"A bit, but we're going to be amazing." Then I winced. "That didn't sound as conceited in my head."

He laughed. "It's not conceited, trust me."

"And I'm sure you know all about being conceited, Mr. Big-Time-Future-NHL-Player," I teased, poking his shoulder.

"Mhm, think you're mistaking me for my team," he retorted playfully, but his smile didn't reach his eyes all the way.

"Please, they'd be lucky if girls look at them, let alone NHL scouts." I said, rolling my eyes and turning back to the mirror to make sure my hair hadn't frizzed – it had of course, but what did it matter if my hair looked like a giant rat's nest, I was dating my soulmate. My perfect, perfect soulmate!

Turning back to him, I smiled, and grabbed my cello.

"Ready?" I asked him, and he nodded, taking my cello for me – an act I usually frowned up. No one and I mean _no one _touched my cello. Even _Katie _of all people didn't dare to touch it! But Cam carrying my cello was sweet, and he wouldn't drop it or anything else. He was my perfect soulmate, after all.

As we walk by Katie's room, I swear her stereo got louder, and I stuck my tongue out at the door, but suddenly the music shut off and the door opened.

"Finally you two are done. Since I'm going, mom and dad said I have to take you two."

"What?" I nearly shrieked, horrified.

Katie just grinned evilly at me. "C'mon, kiddies, you don't want to miss the premier of Whisperhug."

I just watched her walk down the stairs, my jaw against the floor, and Cam's hands steadying me as I swayed.

I don't know who I made so mad upstairs. I really, really don't. I mean I'm not a _great _person, but I do nice things! I mean I never say the mean things I think – well, all the time, sometimes it's hard! I don't deserve this evil vendetta against me!

"You okay, Maya? You look like you're going to be sick." Cam said beside me.

"I think I am." I wheezed.

"MOVE! WE DON'T HAVE ALL NIGHT!" Katie shouted at us from the bottom of the stairs, causing Cam to jump.

"We should –" Cam began weakly.

I began to move, wondering if I could get Cam to shove me down the stairs. Not hard enough so it'd kill me, but just enough so I'd be unconscious until the world locked Katie up so she couldn't torture me anymore.

I knew he'd never do it though, and I was too scared to do it to myself.

Sighing in defeat, I followed him down the stairs.

Katie couldn't ruin everything! I wouldn't let her! This was _my _night, and she couldn't take it away.

So grabbing Cam's hand, I pulled him closer to me in the backseat, knowing it'd piss her off. And considering the look she was giving us in the review mirror, she was clearly pissed, and she turned up the radio so the side windows shook dangerously.

Cam was in a panic beside me, and I squeezed his hand comfortingly and smiled at him, and he smiled back.

* * *

Imogen and Tori were fawning over my hair as we waited backstage. My stomach had become a knot as we waited for someone to tell us it was time to get to the stage, and it was obvious I wasn't the only one with nerves.

Adam was jittery; tapping his foot, checking his bass every few seconds to make sure it was tuned properly. Zig was pacing a bit as Mo tuned him guitar.

I sighed, wincing when a brush yanked at my hair.

"Hey, take it easy!" I yelped.

"Sorry," Imogen said, and she placed the brush on the table.

Tori gave my hair a final pat and smiled. "There, now you look rock star worthy."

I smiled a bit, and then stood up.

"I wish they'd call us already. I'm so nervous, I feel like I'm going to be sick."

"Deep breaths, Min. We're going to do great."

"Don't jinx us!" I hissed in horror.

Imogen laughed.

Tori sighed. "She's right; you're going to be amazing. As Whisperhug's number one groupie, I know for a fact that you guys will be epic!"

I laughed, shoving her a bit.

Tori laughed, then went over to Zig, talking quietly to him, and he only nodded in response to whatever she was saying.

"So where is Puppy Soup?" Imogen asked me.

"With the hockey guys," I said. "They kind of pulled him away when we got here."

"Stupid creeps," she hissed.

"What do you have against the hockey team?" I asked.

She just shrugged in response, and I narrowed my eyes.

"Fine," she sighed. "They're just creepy. My friend has a locker next to them, and they kind of harassed her about being a lesbian. It just… the team, they don't sit well with me. And they think they own the school."

My eyes widened some. "Wow, that's rude of them."

She nodded. "Even though it's probably stupid to hate them, especially when she doesn't, I can't help it."

"But you don't hate Cam," I pointed out.

"Have you seen Cam? Maya, he's a puppy! And he's your soulmate!" She said in horror. "I couldn't hate Cam if I wanted too!"

I laughed. "You're so ridiculous!"

Imogen grinned.

"Guys," Marisol said, shoving the curtain aside in a huff. "You're up."

I gathered my cello and made my way to the stage.

"Good luck!" Tori called.

I turned to smile at her, but saw that she looked like she was about to cry, and before I could ask her what was wrong, Zig was grabbing my arm and yanking me to the stage.

* * *

I jumped off the stage, about to search for Tori to see if she was okay, when Cam blocked my way.

"Wow, you were really good up there." He said, smiling, though his cheeks were a bit red.

"Thanks," I said, then swept my eyes over the gym. "Have you seen Tori?"

"Uh, yeah, I think she and Tristan were over in the back somewhere." He said, then he must have noticed the worry on my face – or I assume was on my face – and frowned, "Everything okay?"

"I'm not sure. Tori was upset before we performed… I just want to know if she's okay." Then I bit my lip and sighed. "I guess if Tris is taking care of it…"

"No, it's fine." He said reassuringly.

"Are you sure?" I asked, eyeing him skeptically. "I could be awhile."

"I'll be fine," he said smiling.

My heart fluttered, and I smiled, kissing him on the cheek. "I'll save you a dance."

I turned from him, heading towards the back of the gym, where I saw Tristan and Tori.

"Tori," I said once I made my way through the crowd. "Are you okay?"

"Maya, what are you doing? Why aren't you with Cam?" she asked, wiping her face.

"Because you were upset before we went on stage," I said, pulling her into a hug. "What's wrong?"

"Zigmund Novak," Tristan said icily.

"What?"

"It's nothing. I'm being stupid again. Go, be with Cam. I'm fine!" Tori said, shoving me a bit.

I hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I got her. Now go dance with Cam before I do." Tristan said jokingly.

"If you need me –" I began.

"Go! I'll be fine. I promise." Tori said, shoving me a bit.

I sighed, turning to re-part the crowd in search of Cam, and seeing him by the Ice Hounds. I hesitated a bit, not wanting to interrupt, but then I saw a look of panic on his face.

Not thinking things through, I shoved my way through.

"Hey, I think you still owe me my dance," I said to him, grabbing his hand, and interrupting a boy with red hair.

The team looked at me in amusement, and I felt Cam's hand tighten around mine.

"Oh, so you're Rookie's girlfriend!" A tall blonde boy said. "Well then, maybe you can convince him to do a team bonding and have a drink."

I furrowed my brow, confused. A drink? What could he possibly mean by that?

Then I saw it. In his hand was a silver flask, and it was glinting against the light, almost mocking us. Daring us to take a sip of whatever the boy had decided to put in it.

"Maybe you could join us. You both look like you could be loosened up some." He said, handing it out to me.

Cam's grip was becoming painfully tight, but I could barely feel it as I looked at the flask in horror. No one was forcing it on me – the peer pressure was nothing I believed it would ever be like. It almost felt _wrong _not to take the flask. Like if I didn't, something would happen.

"Guys, leave her out of this." Cam said, but it didn't come out firm or demanding. It was panicky around the edges. Like he was also scared about what would happen if we didn't take the stupid flask.

"Aw, c'mon, Rook," the boy said, shoving it further into my face. "Your puck bunny looks like she needs to let go. Have some fun."

My mouth was dry, and my heart was racing. Have fun… Puck bunny… Usually the term puck bunny alone would make me angry. I wasn't one of the bimbos, nor would I be referred to as one. But this guy was saying _I _was a puck bunny who needed to loosen up and have fun!

This all clearly registered to Cam too, because suddenly he was dragging me away, the blond guy crying "buzz kill" after him, as his teammates laughed at what losers we must have been.

"I'm sorry," Cam said his face red and angry.

"No," I squeaked, then cleared my throat. "No, Cam, it's fine. It's not your fault."

He sighed, and his eyes were sad. A deep sad, almost tortured looking. But there was anger there too. And for a moment he was quiet, the only thing giving him away was the storm of emotion in his brown eyes.

"I still owe you a dance," he said suddenly, his grip finally loosening on my hand. He smiled, the storm dissipating, leaving the normal happy glow his eyes had.

"And luckily I love the song playing," I said cheesily, smiling at him.

He led me out to the dance floor, putting his hands around my waist, and we swayed to the song, leaving what had happened behind us.

I rested my head against his chest, and smiled, closing my eyes, and he rested his cheek on the top of my head after kissing it. Everything about that moment was perfect. So magically perfect.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Ending it with fluffy Camay because I love you all. Yeah that's right, end of story.

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APRIL FOOLS! HA I GOT YOU! HAHAHAHA!

Love you guys!


	14. Chapter Fourteen: Starlight

**Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi.**

* * *

**Author's Note: **HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO JASMYN! Sorry this one took so long, but I hope your birthday was good! Oh my god, this story has 100+ reviews! Guys, I'm fangirling about this! I love each and every last one of you who has taken the time to sit and read this story. Like every one of you who enjoys this story just make me so happy. I love you guys, and you're all little precious angels. Enjoy this chapter, Camaya junkies, but just remember this: No matter how hard you ship Camaya, Imogen Moreno ships it harder than you do!

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: Starlight**

Monday morning, Tristan met me beside the steps of the school. His eyes were narrowed towards the picnic benches across the street, where Zig and Tori sat.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, adjusting the strap of my bag.

"_That_." Tristan said, waving his hand towards Zig and Tori. "He's been a complete asshole to her lately, and now she just magically forgives him." He sighed tiredly. "I just don't get why she'd even bother with him."

I frowned, looking at them. They looked so… happy. "She loves him." I said simply.

"Please don't be so naïve, Maya." Tristan said, rolling his eyes. "Love doesn't change the fact that Zig _has been _and a_lways will be _a complete and total asshole. He's never changed!"

"Maybe he has!" I argued, my face burning red.

Despite how Zig had been acting lately, I knew he was a nice guy. And I knew that he loved Tori, too. After all, he'd taken her back! He wanted another chance to be her boyfriend. It had to be love.

"Zebras never change their stripes, Maya." Was all Tristan said in response.

* * *

I was walking to English, when Tori ran up and looped her arm through my arm.

"Hey, Maya," she smiled at me.

"Hey," I smiled back at her.

"So, everything worked out with me and Zig, and I was wondering, Saturday is this couples bowling thing, and I know you and Cam haven't gone out on a private date yet, but it sounds _really _fun!" Tori said, smiling and biting her lower lip.

"I could ask him," I said, nodding to her. "But yeah, double date bowling sounds fun."

"You and Cam better be prepared, I'm basically a pro-bowler." Tori smiled cheekily.

"Oh really," I said teasingly. "Is _that _why you always get gutter balls?"

"Hey! Don't be mean!" Tori said, pouting playfully.

I roll my eyes at her playfully and she grins.

"So, tell me what happened at the dance." She asked.

"Nothing special, really," I shrugged, "after I saved him from the Ice Hounds we pretty much danced, drank punch, talked, and then we were taken home by psycho Katie."

"Wait, what do you mean by saving him? What happened?" Tori asked confusion and worry blossoming on her face.

I shrugged, trying to be nonchalant about it, even though thinking about it made me nervous. I could still feel Cam squeezing my hand, worried about me, and maybe even worried for himself.

"Oh, well, you know, it was stupid," I rambled, but stopped when Tori's eyes narrowed. "This guy wanted us to drink, and when I showed up, he and a few of the guys had cornered Cam. It wasn't that big of a deal."

"Liar," Tori snipped. "Maya, those guys are psycho!"

"I know! I know! But I couldn't leave Cam alone with that." I said.

Tori sighed. "I know…"

"I'll talk to Cam about bowling." I said, letting go of Tori's arm when we got to my class. "I'll text you later."

"Yeah, okay. See you in French," Tori said as I walked in to my class.

* * *

I caught up with Cam when he was at his locker on my way to class.

"Hey," I said, jumping up onto his back, making him stumble forward.

"Jeez," he said, and then turned to face me, his face bright red. "Can I help you?"

I smiled weakly at him, my face warm, "Tori and I were talking earlier," I began, guilt suddenly bubbling in my stomach. "I know we haven't had our own first date – unless of course the dance was our first date, and if it was it was good, it wasn't bad or anything –" I sighed, feeling out of breath and embarrassed. I hated not really knowing where we stood in this relationship. I knew he was my boyfriend, and I knew he liked me, but I didn't know things I should know. Did we have a date? What if I said something, or did something that made him feel unmanly? It was so complicated, and I felt as if it shouldn't be as hard as I was making it out to be.

At his confused look, I felt my face burn, and I gave an awkward cough.

"Uh, well, Tori suggested that we double date with her and Zig. There's this couples bowling thing, and it sounded fun." I finished.

Cam's eyes widened a bit, and his front teeth began to chew on his bottom lip. "Oh, yeah, that sounds… fun."

I felt the small smile I had fall from my face. "We don't have to if you don't want too. I mean, it's cool." I said and almost hit myself in the forehead. I was basically pressuring Cam into a date he didn't want to do, and had gotten myself between a rock and a hard place. On one end, we don't do the date, and he feels guilty because he was the jerk who kept me from my friends. But on the other end, I was the jerk who forced her boyfriend into a date he didn't want to go on. Either way we lost and I hated myself for bringing up this stupid idea in the first place.

"No, no," Cam said, shaking his head, "it sounds fun. You and I with Zig and Tori… sounds fun."

"Yeah," I said, trying not to wince at the way he said fun – all awkward, and forced – "fun."

* * *

If I thought Cam wasn't thrilled about the double date, then Zig Novak was in his own category of pissed.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked, turning around in his seat when I sat down in History, his eyes narrowed angrily at me.

I backed away a bit and held up my hands. "What?" I snapped. "What did I do?"

"This stupid double date," Zig snapped, "why on Earth would you agree to it?"

My eyes narrowed and I lowered my hands. I was angry with him, but I was also annoyed at the situation.

I felt like an idiot.

I never even thought about Cam's discomfort, or the fact that Zig hates me nowadays when I agreed to Tori that morning. I had assumed everything was fine because she'd asked and her and Zig looked happy.

I was so sick of him being mad at me, and me not knowing why but accepting it for what it was.

"What's your problem?" I snapped at him, leaning closer to him. "God, ever since a few weeks ago all you've down is scowl and glare at me and I'm so sick of it! Why are you so mad at me?"

"I haven't been doing any of that," Zig denied, his scowl intact, and his glare firmly in place.

I literally wanted to punch him in the face for how stupid and mean he was being.

"You know what –" but I stopped when I saw Tori come in, and slumped back in my chair, crossing my arms, and glaring at the desk.

"Hey," Tori said, bending down to kiss Zig and slip into her seat and looked at me. "What's wrong, Maya?"

"Just a bad day…" was all I offered with a shrug, and reached into my bag and pulled out my notebook, throwing Zig a glare.

"Oh," Tori said, giving me a sympathetic look. "So did you talk to Cam?"

I saw Zig's back stiffen, but I ignored it. "Yeah, he said sure to it."

Tori clapped her hands, a bright smile on her face. "Great! This is going to be so much fun."

"Yeah…" I ground out with a sigh, "Fun."

And I heard Zig softly scoff in response.

* * *

Saturday was an awkward day. Cam had barely spoken anything to me, and had hidden in his room. I, on the other hand, mentally began to prepare myself for what was to come. I didn't know what Cam or Zig's problem was, but it took everything I had to not text Tori and call the whole thing off.

When seven rolled around, I was dressed and ready to go as I sat in the living room on the window seat, waiting for the Santamarias' car to pull up.

Cam came down, and when he saw me, gave me a smile. A forced one that didn't quite meet his eyes, but it was the thought in it that counted I supposed.

"Hey," I said, and scooted over to make room for him on the window seat as he sat down beside me.

"Hey," he said back, nodding to me.

Then we were engulfed in an awkward silence, and I turned to face out the window, gnawing on my thumb nail.

"So…" he said awkwardly, looking around the room, as if searching for something that would be a conversation piece.

"So…" I said back, turning to face him. "Uh… you excited?"

Literally insert: mental slap here!

Cam's eyes shifted slightly as he said, "Uh, yeah."

I resisted the urge to sigh and apologize to him, and turned back to the window as my phone vibrated.

**Be there in 5.**

"Uh, Tori," I said, holding up my phone. "She'll be here in five."

"Oh," Cam said. "Cool."

"Yeah," I nodded back. "Cool."

And then we were engulfed back into an awkward silence.

I played with a frayed string on the cushion, and Cam chewed the inside of his cheek, looking forlornly out the window.

When the doorbell rang, I jumped up and threw it open, seeing Tori standing there with a forced smile.

"Hey," she said, trying to sound cheery, but her voice cracked a bit.

"Hi," I said, my brow furrowed, but Tori shook her head as Cam came up beside me.

Tori lead the way to the car and opened the passenger door and climbed in, leaving me and Cam to sit in the back beside Zig.

Not even five minutes into this date and everyone was miserable, if the sour look on Zig's face was any indication to his mood.

I sat beside him, and Cam climbed in and took my hand, not looking at either me or Zig. Zig rolled his eyes at our handholding and turned to glare out the window.

I squirmed in my seat, hating the tension stifling the car.

Mrs. Santamaria tried to start up small talk; asking about school, the band, Cam's hockey – which Cam squeezed my hand a bit for, which I didn't really understand, but said nothing about –, and our parents, only to end it by turning up the music.

I rested my head against the seat, noticing Tori had her head against the window with her arms crossed.

Her and Zig must have had a fight or something, and I couldn't exactly ask her or text her to see what was wrong. Releasing a tense breath from my nose, I looked at Cam, squeezing his hand in hopes he'd turn to me, but he kept his gaze to the window.

* * *

The ride felt longer than it probably was, and when Mrs. Santamaria pulled up to the curb of the bowling alley, the four of us practically ran out of the car.

"I'll be back here by midnight!" she called, waving to us. "Be good!"

Tori let out a breath, and then turned to smile at us. "Uh, I guess we should…" she trailed off, nodding towards the doors, which she led the way to, with Zig closely at her heels.

"Hey," I said to Cam once they were out of ear shot. "You okay?"

Cam's head snapped over to mine, his cheeks tinged red. "Yeah," he said, though it came out like a question. "Why wouldn't I be?"

I shrugged, and then looked down on the pavement.

"We should get inside," he said, tugging my arm lightly.

I followed him in, just in time to see Zig and Tori lacing up their shoes and glaring at each other.

"Fine," Zig snapped at her.

"Oh, don't do me any favors." She snapped back, rolling her eyes.

I shook my head, turning away and facing an older man with a scraggly beard. "Size 6," I said, and waited for him to give me my shoes. "I'm sorry, by the way."

"For what?" asked Cam, his eyes widened in confusion.

"For you know… kind of forcing you into this."

"Oh – uh – no, you didn't." He lied, shaking his head.

I gave him a pointed look. "Sorry," I said again, and taking my shoes.

"It's fine," he mumbled, grabbing his shoes.

"It's going to be awkward." I said glumly. "I feel for them… For some reason, they just keep fighting."

"Yeah, wonder why…" Cam said, though his words held a sarcastic edge to them.

"What do you mean?" I questioned, not bothering to beat around the bush.

"Nothing," he said, his cheeks turning red.

"Cam," I sighed.

His eyes shifted a bit, and then he sighed. "You have to see it," he mumbled, stopping to turn to me. "You're not dumb."

When I raised my eyebrow and said nothing, he sighed and continued.

"Zig's… you know," Cam said, shrugging a bit, his hands twisting together as if he were trying to grasp words. "He's kind of a jerk."

My mouth opened, and I felt my eyes widened, though I didn't know what to say, or how to react.

Zig had started being a jerk as of late, but I didn't think he was _actually _a jerk. Yes, he should be nicer to Tori, but then I only knew _Tori's _side of the story. Zig was my friend, and I had some sense of loyalty to him, and I felt anger titter around my belly as I gave Cam a glare.

"No he isn't," I snapped, sounding like a seven year old.

Cam's eyes widened and he held up his hands. "Alright," was all he said, and he turned away and began putting on his shoes.

"He really isn't," I said again, starting to put my own shoes on.

"Okay," Cam said, and got up and made their way to Tori and Zig who still snapping at each other.

"So… who wants to go first?" I asked awkwardly, cutting into their hissing match.

Tori looked up, her face red and eyes filled with tears. "He can," she spat, waving her hand towards Zig.

Zig threw a glare at her, and then we typed out names into the computer and began to play.

Zig got a gutter ball on his first throw, and Cam snorted, rolling his eyes. Zig turned around and glared, his face turning red.

"Stop it," I hissed at Cam, glaring at him.

This whole situation was awkward enough without anyone making it any worse.

"No, Maya, I want to know what your stupid boyfriend has to say to me," Zig snapped, his eyes narrowed dangerously at Cam.

Tori and I shared a look, and she bit her lip.

"Zig, c'mon, just drop it." Tori said, reaching for his arm when Zig yanked it away.

"No, I really want to know," Zig snapped, marching over to Cam.

I started to imagine the two of them getting into a fight, and began to panic. Zig was taller than Cam, but Cam was possibly stronger. Regardless of who would win, a fight in the middle of a bowling alley wouldn't exactly be smiled upon by anyone.

"Guys, stop it!" I said, getting in between them, Tori following suit.

"Just bowl, and get over it!" Tori snapped, turning Zig around and shoving him back towards the alley.

Zig tossed another glare at Cam and took his next turn, which was another gutter ball.

"What's your problem?" I hissed at Cam.

"Nothing," he muttered, watching as Tori got up to take her turn.

"Something is," I said, narrowing my eyes. "Now spill it."

Cam's face was red, but he was watching Tori, waiting for his turn, and I gave a loud sigh.

"Fine," I grumbled. "Be that way."

I wanted to add a dig to it, but thought the better of it. We had just gotten together, and to break up on our date, without even having our first would be heartbreaking. So sucking it up, I sat there with my arms crossed and sulked.

"Your turn, Cam," Tori chirped once she was done, and she gave me a questioning look that I shook my head to.

Cam got up, and Zig rolled his eyes.

"This should be good," Zig muttered.

Cam turned to say something, but thought the better of it and continued to walk towards to alley.

I sighed heavily, leaning back into the seat. I could see Tori mimicking my position and glaring at Zig.

Obviously a double date was a bad idea, and I couldn't believe me and Tori were so stupidly optimistic to fall for it.

Cam got a strike, and from the corner of my eye I saw Zig glare at his back.

_This is so stupid, _I huffed to myself, getting up from my seat and picking up a bowling ball, and getting a gutter ball, _so completely and utterly stupid._

* * *

I didn't know how it happened, but some point during bowling it became a match between Cam and Zig. Tori and I sat on the sides, gaping as our boyfriends tried to outdo the other.

"This is unbelievable," Tori muttered angrily at me.

"Yeah, I'll say," I muttered back, crossing my arms angrily.

Cam was a point ahead of Zig and at his last shot, missed and got a gutter ball, making Zig the winner.

"In your face, Saunders!" shouted Zig, making a complete fool of himself, gloating and carrying on, earning a blank stare from Cam.

I felt my face redden. "Okay, stop! It's bowling!" I said, angrily getting to my feet.

"Yeah, you beat me," Cam said, rolling his eyes, and then turned to me, his face red. "Do you want to go?"

My eyes widened, and I nodded.

"I'll text my dad then," Tori said, sighing, getting to her feet, glaring at Zig.

"No, uh," Cam stuttered, turning to her, "if it's okay with you, I have somewhere I want to take Maya."

My heart gave a sharp thud in excitement and I turned to Tori, smiling, and Tori gave us a blank stare and shrugged.

"Okay, fine," she deadpanned.

Cam took my hand, and I heard Zig say something, but I was too nervous and taken aback to hear him, but I heard Tori hiss at him to shut up, so whatever it was had to of been stupid.

* * *

Cam led me down a pathway, it was surrounded by trees, but I knew we weren't in the woods.

"I heard some kid on the team talk about this place," Cam said, "it's supposed to be nice out here."

"It looks nice so far," I commented, trying to keep my voice even and cheery, even though I was upset with him for ruining our double date along with Zig.

"I've only been here once, because I wanted to find it," he admitted to me as he opened a gate. "It kind of reminds me of home."

There was an old ruined church, and I looked around at it, a small smile blooming on my lips.

"Wow, Cam, this is… wow."

He laughed, leading me over to some trees where a hammock was.

"The first week I was here, I came here and laid on this hammock until I had to go to practice. I never had the chance to come back."

He and I both crawled into the hammock and I looked at him.

"So you weren't hiding out here after everything that happened?" I asked softly, my face reddening.

Cam shook his head, though I could see his cheeks tinting red. "No," he said, putting his arm around me.

"Were you hiding from me?" I asked him.

"Sort of, but not really," he admitted. "Hockey gets in the way, and it comes first, I guess."

I leaned in to his arm, looking up at the stars.

"Would you be mad if I said I hid from you?"

There was a pause, and suddenly he turned to me. "Not mad, really. Sad, I guess."

"Why?" I asked, looking back at him.

He shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it…" Then he sighed, looking back at the stars. "I guess, I don't know, I don't want you to hide from me, especially not in your own house."

"It's your house too," I pointed out to him, and he said nothing.

"I like you, Maya." He said quietly. "I feel happy with you."

I smiled, snuggling into him and wrapping my arms around him, starring at the stars. "I like you too," I whispered back, _so, so much._

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm kind of disappointed in this chapter, because I expected more from it, but have had so little time to deliver it. I'm sorry for the short delay on this chapter! I went on vacation, and then I had essays to write, and then finals! I'm free now, so I'll try and have more updates, but like I always say, don't expect speedy updates because sadly life comes before Hopeless. Sigh, it's very sad! So I love you all, you're perfect, and I hope you liked this update!


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